Piper Jaffray analyst, Nicole Miller Regan, believes Panera's (NASDAQ: PNRA) outperformance performance continues to prove the relevancy of its investments and brand equity. No change to Overweight rating or $225 PT.

Fourth-quarter operating earnings were $1.88 vs. consensus of $1.78 per share. Total revenues increased 2.9% y/y to $691.8 million vs. consensus estimates at $695.5 million. This reflected a +3.6% company-owned same-store result vs. +3.0% consensus. They understand company-owned same-store sales reflect approximately +2.5% average check growth.

During the quarter, the company used approximately $125 million to repurchase 683k shares at an average price of $182.97 per share.

For the FY16 period, management has guided for earnings to increase in the +2.0% to +5.0% range on a YoY basis vs. Piper's prior estimate factoring a modest +1.4% increase. Company-owned same-store sales are expected to be in +3.5%- +4.5% range (vs. Piper's +2.0% prior estimate).

The $225 price target is based on 14x FY16E EV/EBITDA estimate, including EBITDA of $387 million, $240 million in net debt and 23.7 million shares outstanding.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Panera Bread click here. For more ratings news on Panera Bread click here.

Shares of Panera Bread closed at $184.72 yesterday.