Analyst Activity: Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)

Analysts are weighing in on how Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), might perform in the near term. Wall Street analysts have a much less favorable assessment of the stock, with a mean rating of 2.8. The stock is rated as buy by 7 analysts, with 4 outperform and 18 hold rating. The rating score is on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 stands for strong buy and 5 stands for strong sell.

For the current quarter, the 32.00 analysts offering adjusted EPS forecast have a consensus estimate of $0.99 a share, which would compare with $4.45 in the same quarter last year. They have a high estimate of $1.61 and a low estimate of $0.13. Revenue for the period is expected to total nearly $1.06B from $1.20B the year-ago period.

For the full year, 36.00 Wall Street analysts forecast this company would deliver earnings of 4.78 per share, with a high estimate of $8.35 and a low estimate of $1.43. It had reported earnings per share of $15.10 in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue for the period is expected to total nearly $4.21B versus 4.50B in the preceding year.

The analysts project the company to maintain annual growth of around 12.12% percent over the next five years as compared to an average growth rate of 14.34% percent expected for its competitors in the same industry.

Among the 25 analysts Data provided by Thomson/First Call tracks, the 12-month average price target for CMG is $463.76 but some analysts are projecting the price to go as high as $605.00. If the optimistic analysts are correct, that represents a 46 percent upside potential from the recent closing price of $415.79. Some sell-side analysts, particularly the bearish ones, have called for $285.00 price targets on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG).

In the last reported results, the company reported earnings of $4.45 per share, while analysts were calling for share earnings of $4.44. It was an earnings surprise of 0.20%percent. In the matter of earnings surprises, the term Cockroach Effect is often implied. Cockroach Effect is a market theory that suggests that when a company reveals bad news to the public, there may be many more related negative events that have yet to be revealed. In the case of earnings surprises, if a company is suggesting a negative earnings surprise it means there are more to come.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates fast-casual fresh Mexican food restaurants. As of December 31, 2015, the company operated 1,971 Chipotle restaurants in the United States; 11 in Canada; 7 in England; 4 in France; and 1 in Germany. It also operated 13 ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen restaurants serving fast-casual and Asian-inspired cuisine, as well as owned and operated 3 Pizzeria Locale restaurants that are fast casual pizza concept restaurants. The company was founded in 1993 and is based in Denver, Colorado.