William Blair Issues Negative Estimate for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Equities research analysts at William Blair cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note issued on Thursday, February 20th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now forecasts that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.83 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $0.93. 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 Q2 2025 earnings at $1.04 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $1.24 EPS.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cheesecake Factory presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

NASDAQ:CAKE opened at $54.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.51. Cheesecake Factory has a 52 week low of $33.05 and a 52 week high of $57.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.53. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $920.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $912.67 million.

Institutional Trading of Cheesecake Factory

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,443,458 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $258,238,000 after buying an additional 21,096 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,876,295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $76,084,000 after purchasing an additional 67,550 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 12.4% in the 4th 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. increased its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,363,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $64,663,000 after purchasing an additional 186,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Cheesecake Factory in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $63,114,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

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