Wedbush Sees Comps Inflection At Noodles & Co.

Noodles & Co.'s (NASDAQ: NDLS) investors may be once bitten and twice shy, but an analyst on Wednesday said its possible the company might finally meet its own predictions for 2015 results.The Broomfield, Colorado-based restaurant chain, which went public in 2013, has missed quarterly expectations by double-digit percentages in three of the past four quarters.Noodles' shares are off 48 percent since going public and changed hands recently at $18.77, up $0.07 cents.Wedbush's Nick Setyan maintained a Neutral rating and $22 target on the company, but said its same-store sales may be at a favorable inflection point."It's the first positive data we've seen at Noodles in many quarters," Setyan said.Sales in stores open more than a year are "tracking" at a growth rate of 2.5 percent or more for the first quarter, according to Setyan. Analysts are expecting growth of just 1.5 percent.The company, with with 439 locations, offers an Asian-Italian menu and on April 1 launched its "Buff" line of food items. The line-up omits noodles and is heavy on meat and vegetables.Current company guidance calls for 2015 same-store sales growth of between 2.5 percent and 4 percent, versus the Wall Street consensus of 2.3 percent, according to Setyan.Setyan believes the company's guidance "may be achievable," and continues to forecast same-store sales growth of 3 percent.Noodles' forecast for 20 percent earnings growth this year "may be a tough hurdle," according to Setyan, who noted that the Street expects growth of 17 percent, with buy-side sentiment even lower.But if full-year same-store sales growth proves to be 3.25 percent or higher, Setyan said Noodles' EPS growth forecast could materialize.