Papa John's International Inc

NASDAQ:PZZAUnited States

07:59 AM EDT, 04/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (MT Newswires covers equity, commodity and economic research from major banks and research firms in North America, Asia and Europe. Research providers may contact us here: https://www.mtnewswires.com/contac...

0755 ET - Papa John's is in for a challenging year, according to Stifel analysts, but investors seem to have already priced that into the stock. The analysts say in a research note that Papa John's is in a tough competitive position in the restaurant category, as consumers look for value. They see Papa John's as lacking a solid message on its value-proposition. They say their checks point to domestic comparable sales falling 1% in 1Q. Despite an unchanged outlook on the company, Stifel analysts upgrade the shares to hold from sell saying "near-term expectations are reasonable." Shares are down nearly 20% in the last three months. They lower their price-target to $60 from $65. Shares are up 1.2% pre-market. (ben.glickman@wsj.com; @benglickman)