William Blair Issues Pessimistic Estimate for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Equities researchers at William Blair decreased their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report released on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now expects that the restaurant operator will earn $3.67 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $3.70. William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cheesecake Factory’s current full-year earnings is $3.71 per share.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $920.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $912.67 million. Cheesecake Factory had a return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CAKE. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Cheesecake Factory from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of CAKE stock opened at $54.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.44 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.61. Cheesecake Factory has a 1-year low of $33.05 and a 1-year high of $57.32.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CAKE. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter valued at about $227,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 77,660 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,053 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services purchased a new position in Cheesecake Factory during the 3rd quarter valued at about $345,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 23,110 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 255,595 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,364,000 after acquiring an additional 22,416 shares during the period. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.