Brinker shares slide after fourth-quarter results and FY27 guidance

Brinker International Inc (NYSE: EAT ) shares came under pressure in early trading on Thursday following the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results.

Here are the key analyst takeaways: TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles reiterated a Buy rating, while raising the price target from $270 to $210.

Stephens analyst Jim Salera maintained an Overweight rating, while lifting the price target from $220 to $300.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Christopher Carril reaffirmed an Overweight rating, while taking the price target higher from $204 to $275.

DA Davidson analyst Matt Curtis maintained a Neutral rating, while raising the price target from $160 to $260.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

TD Cowen: Brinker International is poised for "another strong year," with accelerating quarter-to-date sales, Charles said in a note.

Management indicated that same-store sales had accelerated in July and early August above the fiscal fourth-quarter’s 6%, he added.

The analyst stated that the higher sales were attributed to: Increasing chicken sandwich incidence July’s successful Margarita of the Month at $6 Chili’s rising dessert incidence, with the success of molten cake on top of skillet cookie The unlocking of dessert speed of service to avoid slowing table turns "2027 guidance for MSD% same store sales embeds ~3% price, positive traffic, and flat mix helped by desserts to reverse the prior mix drag in F2H26," he further wrote.

Stephens: Brinker reported higher-than-expected comps at both Chili’s and Maggiano’s but a modest restaurant operating margin miss, Salera said.

The miss was due to "a temporary spike in produce costs," he added.

The analyst noted that: Chili’s domestic same-store sales of +5.9% came in higher than consensus of +5.6% Maggiano’s same-store sales declined by 2.5% but was better than expectations of a 3.8% contraction.

The initial FY27 guide came in above consensus “on both revenue and adj.

EPS," Salera added.

KeyBanc Capital Markets: Brinker reported earnings of $3.07 per share.

That’s modestly lower than consensus of $3.09 per share, despite in-line sales.

The company’s sales so far in the fiscal first quarter have accelerated sequentially, Carril said.

Management aims to keep pricing more modest in fiscal 2027 and reinvest in guest experience to prioritize traffic growth, the analyst stated.

Brinker "sees further throughput opportunities with restaurants only at ~80% of historical guest-count capacity," he wrote.

DA Davidson: Brinker’s stock rallied with Chili’s sequentially accelerating same-store sales so far in the current quarter and a better-than-expected initial guidance for fiscal 2027, Curtis said.

Management guided to revenue of $6.15-$6.27 billion, reflecting 6%-8% growth and coming in higher than consensus of $6.14 billion, he added.

The company projected earnings of $12.60-$13.40 per share.

The consensus is $12.50 per share, with a benefit of 70 cents per share from a 53rd week in the period. "While embedding some upside from the strong start in July/August, FY27 sales guidance is predicated on mid-single-digit comps and positive traffic through the rest of the year," Curtins wrote.

EAT Price Action: Shares of Brinker had declined by 0.71% to $243.86 at the time of publication on Thursday.

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