UPDATE: Wedbush Initiates Coverage on Kona Grill with Outperform Rating, $24 PT on Best Restaurant Growth Story

In a report published Friday, Wedbush analyst Nick Setyan initiated coverage on

with an Outperform rating and $24.00 price target. In the report, Wedbush noted, “We believe Kona Grill is well-positioned to garner a widening premium to growth peers based on growing investor awareness of its best-in-class growth metrics and continued outperformance relative to expectations. Strong new unit opening volumes and SSS growth outperformance to drive increasing cash-on-cash returns. We believe new unit sales volumes are poised to exceed the system average of $4.3 million as they mature, given opening sales levels that are already largely in line with system averages. Combined with SSS growth outperformance contributing to continued leverage in the four-wall economics of the comp base, we expect further improvement in Kona's already category-leading cash-on-cash returns.” Kona Grill closed on Thursday at $18.59.