Wedbush Securities Reiterates Neutral, Raises Price Target On BJ's Restaurants Following Meaningful EPS Beat

In a report published Thursday, Wedbush Securities analyst Nick Setyan reiterated a Neutral rating on

, and raised the price target from $48.00 to $54.00. In the report, Wedbush Securities noted, "Although we are encouraged by improving SSS trends and cost efficiencies, we remain sidelined pending a sustained improving sales trajectory and further visibility into near- and medium-term margin opportunity. Q4 EPS ahead of consensus on preannounced revenue. EPS of $0.31 was above $0.21 consensus and our $0.23 estimate, on preannounced revenue of $213.9 million and SSS growth of 1.2%. The 1.4% growth in average check was partly offset by a (0.2%) slowdown in traffic. Greater-than-expected labor and operating cost leverage, as well as the repurchase of 0.8 million shares drove the beat." BJ's Restaurants closed on Wednesday at $46.88.