Huntington Beach-based BJ’s Restaurants Inc. is expected to continue doing better than most restaurant operators, just not on Wall Street, an analyst said Tuesday.
BJ’s, which runs some 100 casual restaurants serving deep-dish pizza, pasta, salads, steak and sandwiches, has grown through an extended dining downturn.
This month, the company opened a Puente Hills restaurant, its 101st.
BJ’s shares are up more than 50% so far this year, outpacing other restaurant chains.
That led analyst Brad Ludington of Cleveland-based KeyCorp’s KeyBanc Capital Markets to lower his rating on BJ’s from “buy” to “hold.”
The stock has seen a sizable run-up and is likely to hover around its current level, the analyst said.
Shares of BJ’s closed down nearly 3% Tuesday to a market value of $780 million.
Despite the downgrade, Ludington still is upbeat on BJ’s.
He said he expects the company to outperform other restaurant operators for the next few quarters.
The analyst expects the company to see third-quarter profit of $4.3 million, which would be up 33% from a year earlier.
The forecast matches the consensus profit estimate of other analysts who track BJ’s.
Wall Street expects third-quarter sales of $124 million, up 20% from a year earlier.
