BJRI - BJ's Restaurants raised to Buy at Wedbush on margin sales upside

2023-04-18 08:49:26 ET

BJ’s Restaurants ( NASDAQ: BJRI ) shares rose 8% in premarket action on Tuesday as Wedbush moved to a bullish rating on the stock.

A team led by equity analyst Nick Setyan told clients that channel checks “point to Q1 SSS growth in line with-to-above consensus” while higher pricing and easing wage trends should support margins. An upcoming menu reset to reduce costs is also viewed as prudent by Setyan’s team.

“Management will introduce a new menu in July with 10% less items. In testing, it has proven to be accretive to mix. We believe this could drive upside to our 2H mix estimates,” the team wrote on Tuesday.

Alongside the upgrade from Neutral to Buy, Setyan assigned the stock a $36 price target. Shares of BJ’s Restaurants ( BJRI ) rose 5.13% on thin volume shortly before Tuesday’s market open, moderating gains from early premarket hours somewhat.

Read more on the earnings expectations for the company next week .

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