Q3 EPS Estimate for Cheesecake Factory Decreased by Analyst

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Stock analysts at William Blair decreased their Q3 2025 earnings estimates for Cheesecake Factory in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings per share of $0.55 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.56. 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 Q4 2025 earnings at $1.27 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.14 EPS.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $920.96 million during 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%.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.19.

Cheesecake Factory Price Performance

CAKE stock opened at $54.03 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a PEG 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.44.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 10,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 5,051 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,045 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 5,772 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. 94.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.08, for a total transaction of $5,308,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of Cheesecake Factory stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.56, for a total transaction of $1,553,240.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 8.10% of the company’s stock.

Cheesecake Factory Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 5th. Cheesecake Factory’s payout ratio is 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.