What Happened?
Shares of american restaurant chain BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ: BJRI) jumped 3.2% in the morning session after Benchmark upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and set a new price target of $44. The upgrade followed the company's recent strong second-quarter financial results. BJ's reported earnings per share that significantly beat analyst expectations, and revenues also surpassed forecasts. This performance was driven by a notable increase in customer traffic. The positive sentiment echoed elsewhere on Wall Street, as research analysts at William Blair also increased their full-year earnings estimates for the restaurant chain, citing the strong quarterly performance.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $33.98, down 0.5% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
BJ’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 13 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock dropped 3.7% on the news that a surprisingly weak U.S. jobs report and renewed fears over international trade policy fueled concerns about a slowdown in consumer spending. The July 2025 jobs report revealed that hiring slowed dramatically, with the U.S. economy adding only 73,000 new jobs—the weakest gain in over two years. Furthermore, job numbers for May and June were revised significantly lower, suggesting the labor market is weaker than previously thought. This is a critical headwind for restaurants, as a shaky job market often leads consumers to cut back on discretionary spending like dining out. Compounding the issue, the announcement of new U.S. tariffs on trading partners has heightened fears of inflation and a broader economic slowdown, prompting investors to sell shares in consumer-facing sectors.
BJ's is down 5.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $33.98 per share, it is trading 27.4% below its 52-week high of $46.78 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of BJ’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,639.
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