Zacks Industry Outlook emphasizes Cava, Wingstop and BJS restaurants

Chicago, IL – May 21, 2025 – Today Zacks Equity Research discusses the Cava Group, Inc. Cava, Wingstop Inc. Wing and BJ's Restaurants, Inc. Bjri.

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The Zacks Retail Restaurants Industry continues to navigate in a challenging macroeconomic environment, high costs and dark traffic. However, the industry benefits from an increase in sales, which is due to rapid menu price increases, average checks growth and expansion effort. Industry participants also benefit from partnerships with delivery channels and digital platforms. Shares like Cava Group, Inc.Present Wingstop Inc. And BJ's restaurants, Inc. are well punished to benefit from the factors mentioned above.

The Zack's retail restaurant industry includes several owners and operators of informal, upscale, informal, fine, fine restaurants, full-service and fast-casual restaurants. Some industry participants act as a roaster, marketer and retailer from special coffee. Some companies develop, operate and franchise restaurants worldwide.

Some restaurant operators offer dishes with a cooked order, including pasta and pasta, soups, salads and starters. Some industry players develop, own, work, manage and licenses restaurants and lounges worldwide. Some companies also operate technology-related Japanese restaurants in the USA and offer Japanese cuisine via a revolving sushi service model.

Challenging market landscape: The industry is currently dealing with a challenging macroeconomic environment, which is mainly controlled by persistent inflation and reduced purchasing power of consumers. The restaurant industry has been before traffic decline for some time. A rapid increase in menu prices is the main reason for traffic erosion. This decline underlines the ongoing challenges that the industry faces when maintaining the number of customers, especially since consumers are frustrated with increasing prices.

Intensive competition and high wages are worrying. The industry continues to bear increased expenses that affect the edges. Higher preliminary opening costs, marketing costs and costs related to sales initiatives exert pressure on the margins of the company.

Robust sales growth: The sales with the restaurants continued their strong dynamics in April, since consumers were still obliged to eat despite economic uncertainties. According to the preliminary data from the US Census Bureau, the food and drinking of facilities of 99.1 billion US dollars achieved seasonal sales, which characterized a steady increase compared to the previous month.

Digitization to promote growth: The focus of the restaurant operators on digital innovations, sales initiatives and cost saving efforts was a catalyst. With the growing influence of the Internet, digital innovation is the need of the hour. Restaurant operators constantly work with supply channels and digital platforms to increase incremental sales. Partnerships with delivery channels such as Doorash, Grubhub, Postmates and Uber Eats as well as the introduction of kiosks and loyalty programs for self -service and loyalty programs continue to increase growth.

Off-premise sales act as a key catalyst: The industry wins from the increase in sales outside the Premise, which mainly includes delivery, takeover, passage, catering, meals and off-site options such as kiosks and food trucks. Most restaurant operators have taken the exam of ghost or virtual kitchens. The idea of ​​delivering off-premise offers and a networked curb service has won a positive customer feedback.

The Zacks restaurant industry is grouped in the wider retail core business sector. It has a Zacks industrial dating No. 182, in which it lies in the lower 26% of the more than 245 Zacks industries.

The group's Zacks industrial, which is on average the Zacks rank of all member shares, shows bright short-term prospects. Our investigations show that the top 50% of the Zacks industry exceed the lower 50% by a factor of more than two to one.

The position of the industry in the lower 50% of the Zacks industries results from a negative income outlook for the companies in the constituent companies as a whole. Before we introduce some stocks that you want to consider for your portfolio, we look at the current performance and evaluation image of the industry.

The Zacks Retail -Restaurant Industry did the Zacks S&P 500 Composite and its sector below average last year.

During this period, the industry has grown by 8% compared to the jump of 11.7% of Zacks S&P 500 Composite. The sector has increased by 18.1%.

Based on the 12-month P/e-striker, a frequently used multiple for the evaluation of restaurants, the industry is currently dealing with 26.55x compared to the 21.89-fold S&P 500. It is above the 12-month P/E ratio of the sector of 23.95x.

In the past five years, the industry has been up to 34.30x and up to 22.26x, with the median being 25.83 times.

Cava: The company benefits from strategic expansion efforts and continuous improvements in its digital and restaurants. With a differentiated Mediterranean brand offer and a disciplined execution, the company seems to be well positioned in order to maintain its growth structures. In the 2025 financial year, the company is expected to open 64-68 Net New Cava restaurants, compared to the previous range of 62-66. It is expected that sales growth of the same restaurant is in the range of 6 to 8%, while the profit margin at the restaurant level is between 24.8%and 25.2%.

The shares of this company from Zacks rank 2 (Buy) increased 15.2% last year. The sales and profits of CAVA 2025 are expected to increase by 24.4% or 31%. You can seeThe full list of today's Zacks #1 rank (Strong Buy) protocols here.

Wingstop: Wingstop will probably benefit from digital efforts, units management and strategic partnerships. Wingstop uses AI-driven kitchen technology to modernize back-of-house operations. This initiative aims to significantly reduce the offer times, improve consistency and unlock additional demand, especially in high traffic times such as lunch.

The shares of this Zack rank #2 companies have increased 42.6% in the past three months. The sales and profit of Wing 2025 are expected to increase by 16.6% and 6.3% compared to the previous year.

BJS restaurants: The company benefits from increased guest traffic in all daily daily and channels. Sales drive initiatives such as pizookie meals and the holiday offer supported by targeted marketing for a big party continuously increase brand awareness and traffic dynamics.

The shares of this Zack rank #2 companies rose 23.1% last year. The sales and profits of BJRIS financial year 2025 are expected to increase by 3.2% or 23.8% a year.

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The performance in the past is not a guarantee of future results. In an investment inherent, the potential for losses is. This material is only provided for information purposes, and nothing is investments, legal, accounting or tax advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or maintain security. There is no recommendation or advice whether an investment is suitable for a specific investor. It should not be assumed that investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets that have been identified and described were or become profitable. All information is current at the time of the current date and can be changed without prior notice. All expressed views or opinions may not reflect that of the entire company. Zack's Investment Research does not participate in investment banking, market manufacturing or asset management activities of securities. These returns come from hypothetical portfolios, which consist of shares with Zacks rank = 1, which were reproduced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of the actual stock portfolios. The S&P 500 is a non -managed index. Visit /Performance for information on the performance numbers shown in this press release.

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BJ's restaurants, Inc. (Bjri): Free stock analysis report

Wingstop Inc. (wing): Report on free stock analysis

Cava Group, Inc. (Cava): Report on free stock analysis

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