William Blair Issues Pessimistic Estimate for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) - Analysts at William Blair dropped their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Cheesecake Factory in a report issued on Tuesday, April 22nd. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.82 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.83. William Blair has a "Outperform" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cheesecake Factory's current full-year earnings is $3.71 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Cheesecake Factory's Q2 2025 earnings at $1.10 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $3.73 EPS.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%.

CAKE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Cheesecake Factory from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.06.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

NASDAQ CAKE traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $50.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 934,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,196,986. The stock has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.98. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $33.44 and a 52 week high of $57.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. Cheesecake Factory's dividend payout ratio is presently 33.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total value of $1,553,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 8.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $258,238,000 after buying an additional 21,096 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,008,000 after purchasing an additional 155,614 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $64,663,000 after buying an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,114,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at $56,288,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company's stock.

Cheesecake Factory Company Profile

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated operates and licenses restaurants in the United States and Canada. The company operates bakeries that produce cheesecakes and other baked products for its restaurants, international licensees, third-party bakery customers, external foodservice operators, retailers, and distributors.