BJRI - BJ's Restaurants trades lower after Omicron headwinds clip Q4 results

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) turned lower in early trading after posting a larger-than-anticipated Q4 loss. The restaurant chain said in mid-December, as the casual dining industry began to experience Omicron-related headwinds, the two-year comparable restaurant sales trend turned negative to cut into quarterly operating results. Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating on BJRI and 12-month to 18-month price target of $45, but set some estimates lower. The firm said EBITDA estimates for 2022 were revised lower as it reset margin forecasts to properly capture tougher food/labor cost headwinds and transitory sales weakness in January related to Omicron. Looking further ahead, the path for BJRI is expected to improve Analyst Brian Bittner: "While the near term is challenged by margin headwinds, we believe BJRI's valuation potentially under-appreciates the long-term opportunity to recapture better margins and grow the underpenetrated footprint in mid-singles." Shares of BJRI fell 4.13% premarket on Friday to follow a 5.19% decline on

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BJ's Restaurants trades lower after Omicron headwinds clip Q4 results