William Blair Issues Positive Outlook for CAKE Earnings

The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (NASDAQ:CAKE) – Equities researchers at William Blair upped their Q2 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Cheesecake Factory in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 26th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now forecasts that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $1.05 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.04. William Blair 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.

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The restaurant operator reported $1.04 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 45.89% and a net margin of 4.38%.

CAKE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Cheesecake Factory in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Cheesecake Factory from $56.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Cheesecake Factory from $49.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from 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 $54.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.10. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 616 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cheesecake Factory during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 1,149.5% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,312 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Cheesecake Factory by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 741 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.48% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cheesecake Factory news, Chairman David Overton sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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 owns 3,092,147 shares in the company, valued at $164,131,162.76. The trade was 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 at this link. Also, CFO Matthew Eliot Clark sold 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,134,687.36. This trade represents a 42.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cheesecake Factory Dividend Announcement

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