UPDATE: BMO Capital Markets Reiterates Market Perform Rating, Raises PT on BJ's Restaurants Following 1Q13 Earnings Release, Conference Call

In a report published Monday, BMO Capital Markets analyst Phillip Juhan reiterated a Market Perform rating on BJ's Restaurants BJRI, and raised the price target from $35.00 to $38.00. In the report, Juhan noted, “We're lowering estimates following BJRI's 1Q13 earnings release and conference call to reflect a slightly slower growth trajectory...We think Friday's 4.6% rally in the shares was a bit overdone and reflective of short covering (particularly given the large short position – nearly 13% of shares outstanding). It was no surprise that 1Q sales and traffic trends were weak. However, we had expected April traffic to hold flat and comps to resume more normalized low-single-digit growth to parallel menu pricing. So, we were slightly disappointed to learn that traffic remained negative in April, excluding the favorable Easter shift.” BJ's Restaurants closed on Friday at $35.91.