Piper Jaffray Cuts Price Target on The Habit Restaurants (HABT) Following 2Q15

Piper Jaffray maintained an Overweight rating on Habit Restaurants (NASDAQ: HABT), and cut the price target to $40.00 (from $48.00), following 2Q15. EPS came in at $0.09 vs. consensus expectations of $0.06.

Analyst Nicole Miller Regan commented, "The Habit recently reported strong 2Q15 results, which were in line on a comp perspective but better-than-expected on an EPS basis given solid flow-through at the restaurant level and in the middle of the P&L. For 2Q, comps came in at +8.9% (vs. the Street at +9.1%) and operating EPS came in at $0.09 (vs. consensus expectations of $0.06). While we remain confident in the company's long-term model we believe market concerns around difficult YoY comparisons in 3Q could continue to weigh on shares over the near-term. Thus we are narrowing the premium applied to HABT shares and adjusting our PT to $40 which is now based on 20x core FY16 EBITDA (vs. 30x prior) and $18/share in new unit pipeline value (unchanged). Although still a premium to our covered limited service names at 16x we believe this narrowed multiple better reflects the company's strong growth prospects in light of near-term concerns."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Habit Restaurants click here. For more ratings news on Habit Restaurants click here.

Shares of Habit Restaurants closed at $28.64 yesterday.

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