Noodles & Company (NASDAQ:NDLS) Earns “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Noodles & Company (NASDAQ:NDLS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $3.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential upside of 114.29% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, StockNews.com raised Noodles & Company from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th.

Noodles & Company Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NDLS traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $1.40. 59,783 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 263,883. Noodles & Company has a twelve month low of $0.55 and a twelve month high of $2.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 23.66. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $1.11. The stock has a market cap of $63.95 million, a P/E ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 1.96.

Noodles & Company (NASDAQ:NDLS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The restaurant operator reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.02). Noodles & Company had a negative return on equity of 108.23% and a negative net margin of 6.59%. The business had revenue of $121.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $123.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.07) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Noodles & Company will post -0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Noodles & Company stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Noodles & Company (NASDAQ:NDLS) by 17.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,300 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 21,800 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC owned 0.32% of Noodles & Company worth $85,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.67% of the company’s stock.

About Noodles & Company

Noodles & Co engages in the business of development and operation of fast-casual restaurants that serve noodle and pasta dishes, soups, salads, and appetizers. The firm also offers pleasant dining, pick-up, and delivery experiences by quickly preparing fresh food with friendly service. The company was founded by Aaron Kennedy in 1995 and is headquartered in Broomfield, CO.