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It may be time to take profits on Brinker International and rotate into other restaurant stocks, according to BTIG. This year, the Chili’s owner has seen huge gains, rising more than 202% year to date. That’s more than the year-to-date gains of AI chip darling Nvidia , which is up more than 176% this year. “Who needs AI when you have baby back ribs?” analyst Jonathan Krinsky wrote in a report to clients this week. “We would look to start fading this strength, and rotating into other restaurants that have more timely setups here.” EAT YTD mountain EAT, year-to-date The gains also mark the best year on record for Brinker. In fact, if the company were part of the S & P 500 , it would be ranked as the third-best-performing stock by year-to-date gains, Krinsky said. Prior to this year, the stock’s biggest year-to-date percentage increases were more than 143% in 1991, more than 80% in 1998 and more than 75% in 2000. Noting that success and that Brinker is about 90% above its 200-day moving average — which Krinksy added is another all-time high for the stock — he now sees opportunity with other names in the sector, specifically Domino’s Pizza , Darden Restaurants and Yum Brands . Those stocks have all been in the green this year, advancing more than 14%, nearly 6%, and more than 6%, respectively. That said, they’ve all still underperformed the broader market, as the S & P has jumped more than 26% in 2024. While BTIG has a neutral rating on Yum Brands, it has rated both Domino’s Pizza and Darden Restaurants as a buy. Its $500 price target for Domino’s implies more than 5% upside from here, while its $195 target for Darden reflects more than 12% upside, as of Tuesday’s close. Wall Street is similarly bullish on both Domino’s and Darden. For Domino’s, 22 of the 35 analysts covering the pizza chain have a strong buy or buy rating, while 12 analysts have a hold rating, according to LSEG data. It also has an average target of $477.91, which reflects around 1% upside from Tuesday’s close. By comparison, 20 of the 31 analysts covering Darden on the Street have a strong buy or buy rating, and 10 of them have a hold rating, per LSEG. Its average target of $183.73 reflects more than 5% upside from Tuesday’s close. Meanwhile, Yum’s average target of $144.06 reflects about 4% upside from Tuesday’s close. That’s even with a majority of analysts taking a neutral stance. More specifically, 21 of the 30 analysts covering it on the Street have a hold rating, according to LSEG. The remaining nine have a strong buy or buy rating.
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