William Blair Issues Optimistic Forecast for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Research analysts at William Blair upped their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Cheesecake Factory in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now anticipates that the restaurant operator will earn $1.05 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $1.04. 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. William Blair also issued estimates for Cheesecake Factory’s FY2025 earnings at $3.70 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CAKE. Barclays increased their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush increased their price objective on Cheesecake Factory from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

Shares of CAKE opened at $54.03 on Friday. Cheesecake Factory has a twelve month low of $33.05 and a twelve month high of $57.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $51.63 and a 200 day moving average of $46.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cheesecake Factory

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAKE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $258,238,000 after purchasing an additional 21,096 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,412,483 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $67,008,000 after purchasing an additional 155,614 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $64,663,000 after purchasing an additional 186,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cheesecake Factory

In related news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total value 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 trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,856 shares in the company, valued at $2,134,687.36. This represents a 42.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 33.75%.

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.