Feltl and Company Raises Price Target On Papa John's International

Feltl and Company reiterated its Buy rating and raised its price target Wednesday on Papa John’s International, Inc. PZZA from $51 to $54.

The price target change comes after the company reported higher than expected sales and EPS of $0.39, beating the consensus of $0.37.

Analyst Mark E. Smith noted that Papa John’s “reported domestic same-store sales increased 7.4 percent in 3Q:14, better than our 6.0 percent estimate.”

“Revenue from the company’s core restaurant and franchising businesses exceeded our expectations, but the commissary business reported revenue of $149.2mm compared to our $155.6mm estimate.

“International restaurant and commissary sales of $19.7mm was below our $20.7mm estimate; we think the company still has more work to do on its restaurants in China,” according to Smith.

The analyst report concluded that the company “is taking market share from small competitors as well as other regional and national brands” and its increasing digital sales “typically have a higher ticket, higher margin and higher customer satisfaction.

“We are encouraged by another quarter of strong same-store sales both domestically and internationally.”

Papa John’s International, Inc. recently traded at $49.02, up 4.97 percent.