Wunderlich Upgrades BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) to Buy on Aggressive Buyback Plan

Wunderlich Securities upgraded BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ: BJRI) from Hold to Buy with a price target of $36.00 (from $27.00). The change relates to the company's more aggressive buyback plan.

Analyst Robert M. Derrington said, "This morning, BJ's Restaurants (BJRI) announced aggressive plans including the addition of new board members; a $50mm repurchase authorization; and expansion of the company's cost-optimization plan. Combined, these changes signal aggressive intentions which, we believe, will lead to improved operating performance. While the fruits of these changes may take time to unfold, in the interim, BJRI announced its plan to repurchase $25mm of a new $50mm authorization by Dec. 2014. Ultimately, we believe these initiatives will prove additive to our projections, which we have modestly raised. As BJs operating trends improve and factoring an 11.0x EV/EBIDA multiple to our initially revised 2015 projections, we are raising our PT to $36 from $27, and rating to Buy from Hold."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on BJ's Restaurants click here. For more ratings news on BJ's Restaurants click here.

Shares of BJ's Restaurants closed at $29.70 yesterday.

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