William Blair Issues Pessimistic Forecast for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Research analysts at William Blair cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Cheesecake Factory in a report released on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.83 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.93. William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cheesecake Factory’s current full-year earnings is $3.70 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Cheesecake Factory’s Q2 2025 earnings at $1.04 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $1.24 EPS.

CAKE has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Stock Performance

Cheesecake Factory stock opened at $54.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.46. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $33.05 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 (NASDAQ:CAKE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%. The company had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 10,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,772 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

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.