What Happened?
Shares of restaurant company Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ: TXRH) jumped 2.9% in the afternoon session after an analyst at Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to “Overweight” from “Equal-Weight” and raised its price target.
The investment bank increased its price target for the restaurant chain to $195 from $170. According to the analyst, a recent decline in the stock's price created an attractive buying opportunity. The bank's positive view came despite near-term pressures from higher beef costs, which it viewed as a temporary, or cyclical, issue that was already largely factored into the share price. The brokerage also noted an expectation for these costs to ease in the second half of 2026, reflecting a positive outlook on the company's future performance.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $170.33, up 2.7% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Texas Roadhouse’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 6 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 4 months ago when the stock dropped 5.6% on the news that the company reported second-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations, as profitability was squeezed despite higher sales.
The restaurant chain posted earnings per share of $1.86, falling short of Wall Street estimates of $1.91. While revenue grew 12.7% year-over-year to $1.51 billion, slightly beating forecasts, this positive was overshadowed by declining profitability. The company's Adjusted EBITDA, a key measure of profit, also missed expectations.
Furthermore, its gross profit margin decreased by 1.1 percentage points from the prior year to 17.6%, highlighting pressure on profitability. The results indicated that while the company was successfully growing its sales, its earnings did not keep pace.
Texas Roadhouse is down 6% since the beginning of the year, and at $170.33 per share, it is trading 14.7% below its 52-week high of $199.80 from May 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Texas Roadhouse’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,079.
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