Restaurant Stocks Hitting 52-Week Highs: Panera, Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans Farms, Buffalo Wild Wings

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Shares of these restaurant stocks reached 52-week highs on Friday: Panera Bread (PNRA), Cracker Barrel (CBRL), Bob Evans (BOBE) and Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD).

Each of these stocks received buy ratings from TheStreet Ratings.

Panera Bread

Panera Bread is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 7. Analysts, on average, anticipate earnings of $1.42 a share on revenue of $499.05 million.

"We expect to see EPS come in at the upper end of guidance as solid SSS trends in the 6% range and a recent 1% menu price increase (Sept) help drive leverage on fixed and semi-fixed costs, offsetting higher food cost inflation (5% vs. 4.5% in 3Q), unfavorable G&A timing shifts (hiring & program spend) and less favorability from recent labor structural efficiencies. For 4Q 2011, the company expects EPS of $1.39-1.41 (+15-17%), based on same-store sales of 5.5-6.5% and 50-100bps of operating profit margin contraction," Jefferies analysts wrote in a report Thursday. "Our 4Q EPS estimate is $1.41 (in line with consensus) based on 6% SSS at company-owned stores and 60-70bps of operating margin contraction."

Shares of Panera hit a 52-week high Friday of $155.67. The stock's 52-week low of $96.98 was set on Aug. 8.

Panera shares trade at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 28X; the average for restaurants and bars is 19.3X. Darden (DRI) has a forward P/E of 12.03X; The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) has a forward P/E of 16.83X.

Thirteen of the 23 analysts who cover the company rated it a buy; 10 considered it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings gives an A grade and a has a $190.94 price target on the shares. The stock has risen 10.05% year to date.

1 2 3 Next › Last »