Zacks Research Has Negative Outlook for CAKE Q3 Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE - Free Report) - Analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note issued on Wednesday, May 14th. Zacks Research analyst H. Ray now expects that the restaurant operator will earn $0.57 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.58. The consensus estimate for Cheesecake Factory's current full-year earnings is $3.71 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Cheesecake Factory's Q1 2026 earnings at $0.97 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.60 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.98 EPS.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CAKE traded down $0.90 on Monday, hitting $53.64. The stock had a trading volume of 653,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,193,494. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $33.50 and a twelve month high of $57.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.94. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.12. Cheesecake Factory had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 45.89%. The company had revenue of $927.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $927.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Cheesecake Factory's payout ratio is 33.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cheesecake Factory news, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. The trade was a 42.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business'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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. This trade represents a 3.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 156.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,045,705 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $148,204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,859,194 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter valued at about $75,795,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 83.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,591,205 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $126,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,722 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,720,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 64.1% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,766,131 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $85,940,000 after acquiring an additional 689,784 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company's stock.

About Cheesecake Factory

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.