Cava Group price target lowered to $115 from $145 at Bernstein

Bernstein analyst Danilo Gargiulo lowered the firm’s price target on Cava Group (CAVA) to $115 from $145 and keeps a Market Perform rating on the shares. The firm believes that the front-loaded same-store sales guidance makes it more attainable to beat it, and could spur a stock acceleration with improving trends in the second half of the year. Besides, the higher new store productivity underscores the durability and scaling opportunity of Cava’s business model, raising the long-term attainability of the “stretch economics” required to justify a higher stock valuation, Wedbush adds. On the other hand, the firm thinks investors looking for margin increases in the medium-term may be disappointed, as it expects Cava to “manage its P&L” and continues to invest ahead of the curve in G&A, labor and other in-store investments.