NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Panera Bread Co. (PNRA) are up 0.76% to $158.35 in early morning trading Wednesday after Credit Suisse initiated coverage with an "outperform" rating and a $190 price target.  

"While Panera has been a disappointing story in the recent quarters, we believe the severe downward reset to expectations and significant investments int he customer experience could merge into a powerful earnings recovery in the future," analysts said. 

Some reasons investors should be more bullish about the food chain are that new store performance remains strong, same-store sales may have bottomed, and margins are likely to start to recover in 2016, the firm noted.  

In addition, some recent shareholder friendly moves may help put a floor under the stock, and relative valuation looks attractive, particularly relative to peers, adding to the company's bullish outlook, according to Credit Suisse. 

Analysts anticipate fiscal year earnings of $6.28 per share, generally in line with consensus estimates of $6.25 per share. 

"Upfront investments in the customer experience will yield higher sales in the future," the firm said, adding that if this does not occur, earnings may come up short of targets.  

Panera Break is expected to post first quarter 2015 earnings in April. 

Insight from TheStreet's Research Team:

Brian Sozzi commented on Panera Bread in a recent post on RealMoney.com.  Here is what Sozzi had to say about the stock:

Panera Bread (PNRA), led by a visionary founder in the restaurant business, is rumored to also be working on technology to support the Apple Watch. Look for restaurant companies to begin tripping over themselves to launch and market smartwatch technology that could lead to more impulse purchases and efficiencies inside the restaurant.

- Brian Sozzi, 'You're Old and Don't Get the Apple Watch' originally published 3/6/2015 on RealMoney.com.

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Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates PANERA BREAD CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate PANERA BREAD CO (PNRA) a BUY. This is driven by some important positives, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat weak growth in earnings per share.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: PNRA Ratings Report