BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) shares ended the last trading session 8% higher at $67.49. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 14.5% gain over the past four weeks.
BJ’s Restaurants shares rose on Friday as investors responded positively to stronger same-store sales expectations and improving operating momentum. The company’s Pizookie Meal Deal, seasonal menu offerings, revamped pizza platform and new chicken sandwiches are supporting traffic and sales growth, while better restaurant execution is likely strengthening earnings expectations.
This restaurant chain is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.86 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -11.3%. Revenues are expected to be $374.34 million, up 2.4% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For BJ's Restaurants, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on BJRI going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
BJ's Restaurants is a member of the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry. One other stock in the same industry, Yum China Holdings (YUMC), finished the last trading session 1% lower at $43.87. YUMC has returned 3.3% over the past month.
For Yum China, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.69. This represents a change of +19% from what the company reported a year ago. Yum China currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
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BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).