Zacks Research Forecasts Lower Earnings for BJ's Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) - Investment analysts at Zacks Research cut their FY2024 earnings estimates for BJ's Restaurants in a research report issued on Thursday, November 14th. Zacks Research analyst H. Ray now expects that the restaurant operator will earn $1.25 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $1.43. The consensus estimate for BJ's Restaurants' current full-year earnings is $1.26 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for BJ's Restaurants' Q1 2025 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.58 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.43 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $1.44 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.45 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.15 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $1.71 EPS.

BJRI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.57.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $34.93. The company had a trading volume of 252,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,625. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ's Restaurants has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $38.87. The firm has a market cap of $797.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.10. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $33.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.68.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 2.24%. The company had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.97 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 528.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,059,000 after buying an additional 130,676 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,310,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $18,360,000 after purchasing an additional 114,008 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,250,000. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,602,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ's Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $29.40 per share, for a total transaction of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $497,007. This represents a 17.36 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

About BJ's Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts under brand name Pizookie. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.