Latest news with #ScottBoatwright
Business Insider
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) Hot Streak Cooled by Slashed Forecast
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) investors received a harsh reality check last week after digesting CMG's gruesome Q2 earnings report, which included eyebrow-raising top-line misses. Given that the company reported figures outside of market hours, the news led to the stock opening more than 10% lower than its previous close and now trades ~11.5% lower since its earnings call. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. To provide readers with some background context, Chipotle was experiencing a 14% 'revenue surge' around this time in 2023, driven by new locations and 'comparable restaurant sales.' This momentum carried over into 2025, when revenue grew by another 14.6%. In February this year, the firm said it expected sales growth 'in the low to mid-single-digit range.' Fast forward to the present day, Chipotle's Q2 featured a 4% decline in comparable restaurant sales, while revenue fell short of expectations with a meager 3% year-over-year increase and a 2.9% decrease in adjusted EPS. To throw 'salsa' on the wound, Chipotle then lowered its comparable sales growth forecast to 'approximately flat.' The lackluster Q2 performance and lowered guidance signal that Chipotle's days of robust growth are behind it, leaving me cautiously Neutral on its stock. A Perfect Storm of Headwinds Hits Chipotle A mix of macroeconomic and company-specific factors has driven Chipotle's recent guidance cut. Broadly, the economic environment continues to pressure consumer discretionary sectors—especially restaurants. In May 2025, food-away-from-home prices rose 3.8% year-over-year, squeezing already thin restaurant margins. While Chipotle and its peers implemented modest menu price hikes (2% in late 2024), these increases often result in reduced customer traffic. Chipotle is particularly exposed to this dynamic. It's often viewed as a pricier option compared to competitors like Wendy's (WEN) and McDonald's (MCD), making it more vulnerable as consumers face tighter budgets. Even loyal customers are gravitating toward lower-priced menu items, creating a 'negative mix shift' that dampens sales growth. Adding to the pressure is rising competition from CAVA Group (CAVA) — a rapidly expanding fast-casual chain that offers health-conscious Mediterranean bowls and is increasingly seen as a Chipotle alternative. Importantly, Chipotle's challenges aren't purely external. Internally, the company acknowledges a 'value perception gap' with its competitors. Despite launching more affordable options—like a sub-$10 burrito bowl—consumers still tend to view Chipotle as a premium or occasional splurge, especially among lower-income diners. Chipotle's COO, Scott Boatwright, has argued that the brand doesn't get enough credit for its value, although the company admits that this perception is something it needs to address. Chipotle's Comeback Requires Marketing and Menu Innovation Clear indications of plateauing revenue growth and peaking restaurant sales have spurred Chipotle's management into action. Boatwright is seeking to right the Chipotle ship through added marketing spend, emphasizing the restaurant's proposition. Moreover, its loyalty program, which includes 20 million active members, offers rewards to drive visits. For its inactive members, the company is deploying ' AI solutions' to deliver targeted offers to reengage lapsed customers. As always in the restaurant business, menu innovation is key, and Chipotle doesn't want to sit on its hands. The Chipotle Honey Chicken, which launched in March 2025, is the brand's best-performing limited-time offer (LTO) in its history. Internally, Chipotle is combating margin pressure by making strategic investments in back-of-house technology and implementing operational enhancements. The latter includes a dual-sided plancha for faster cooking and a new three-pan rice cooker to increase capacity. Essentially, any measure that enhances preparation efficiency, thereby freeing up labor, is a key consideration, as labor is a cost mountain when owning a restaurant. Notably, the majority of its new locations will feature a 'Chipotlane,' which enables convenient digital order pickup. Is CMG Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold? On Wall Street, CMG sports a consensus Moderate Buy rating based on 20 Buy, seven Hold, and zero Sell ratings in the past three months. CMG's average stock price target of $59.50 implies almost 30% upside over the next 12 months. Following its Q2 earnings, BTIG analyst Peter Saleh maintained a Buy rating on CMG, but lowered its price target from $60 to $57. He noted that despite Chipotle's reduced guidance, 'comps and traffic returned to positive in June and July, and restaurant margins should do the same in the second half.' Chipotle Stagnates via Premium Valuation and Slowing Growth The abrupt pause in Chipotle's multi-year growth streak has reshaped its investment narrative. The central question now is whether this is a short-term setback or the beginning of a broader decline in its market leadership. What's clear is that sustaining its premium valuation—trading at a Price-to-Earnings ratio more than double that of its peers—will be increasingly difficult if growth continues to slow. Still, rather than signaling the end of the road, the Q2 results appear to mark a pivotal test for management. Navigating it successfully will require strong execution, strategic flexibility, and perhaps a bit of luck. Given the confluence of troubling factors, I'm decidedly Neutral with a bearish bias.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Down 33%, Is Chipotle a Buy Now?
Key Points Chipotle posted its second straight quarter of comparable sales decline. Management announced several initiatives to help drive long-term growth. The company aims to double its restaurant count to 7,000. 10 stocks we like better than Chipotle Mexican Grill › Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) has been one of the best-performing restaurant stocks of all time. Since its 2006 IPO, the burrito roller is up more than 5,000%. However, the company is now facing what appears to be its biggest challenge since at least COVID, and possibly going back to its E. coli crisis. Following the departure of star CEO Brian Niccol, who took the top job at Starbucks nearly a year ago, Chipotle has now reported two straight quarters of declining comparable sales. Though weakening consumer sentiment and discretionary spending are at least partly to blame for its struggles, the setbacks are bad enough that new CEO Scott Boatwright announced a multi-step plan to get the company back to growth after the stock fell 13% on Thursday, meaning it's now down 33% from its peak from late last year. The sell-off is understandable following the second-quarter results. Comparable sales fell 4% on a 4.9% decline in transactions, showing that customers simply aren't visiting as often. Revenue still rose 3% to $3.1 billion due to the effect of new store openings. Operating margin was down from 19.7% to 18.2%, while adjusted earnings per share fell from $0.34 to $0.33. Management also lowered its comparable sales guidance to flat. Chipotle's plan to bounce back On the earnings call, Boatwright described some of the changes he's making at the fast-casual chain and hinted at others. For example, Chipotle is rolling out a high-efficiency equipment package that includes new planchas, rice cookers, and fryers. Additionally, the company has added produce slicers to all restaurants to help improve prep times. Among other things, Boatwright is hopeful that this will drive greater demand for Chipotle's catering, driving it from 1% to 2% of sales to 5% to 10% of sales. It also sees opportunities to improve throughput. To counter a slowdown in summer visits, the company is ramping up its marketing, and it has returned to positive comps as of June. The company launched Summer of Extras, a gamified experience allowing rewards members to earn extra points and prizes. Boatwright also hinted at doing more to emphasize Chipotle's value proposition. It's unclear if that means offering something like a value menu or lower-cost items, or if Chipotle would emphasize its value in its marketing more. The new CEO seems to be following in the footsteps of Niccol, who also adopted some of the classic strategies of traditional fast food. This includes the drive-thru, which Chipotle has modified to its Chipotlane, which requires customers to order digitally. Chipotle also introduced a one-hour buy-one, get-one (BOGO) free, which was available during the normally slow hour of 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Is Chipotle a buy? Chipotle's price-to-earnings (P/E) valuation fell to a recent low on the sell-off at 40, but that's still expensive by conventional standards and compared to the S&P 500's P/E ratio of 27.4. The recent decline in comparable sales may not be a reason to be alarmed, either. After all, the company has already returned to positive comps growth as of June and in July through the date of the report. We also know that restaurants have seen slowing growth this year due to weakening consumer sentiment, as spending on restaurants is one of the easiest areas for people to pull back on. The fast-casual chain also continues to plan for having 7,000 restaurants over the long term, about double what it has today. Despite the recent weakness, there's no reason to think that there's any fundamental change in Chipotle's business model or its customer perception. While the stock could be volatile over the coming months as the trade situation is still in flux, Chipotle still looks like a solid buy over the long term. Should you invest $1,000 in Chipotle Mexican Grill right now? Before you buy stock in Chipotle Mexican Grill, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Chipotle Mexican Grill wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 28, 2025 Jeremy Bowman has positions in Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short September 2025 $60 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Down 33%, Is Chipotle a Buy Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Entrepreneur
4 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Chipotle Says Candidates Love Its AI Hiring Tool 'Ava Cado'
Candidates can now go from application-to-hire in three and a half days. It used to take 12. Last fall, Chipotle announced that it was using an AI tool named "Ava Cado" to speed up its hiring process. And so far, it is working out well for the burrito maker. Chipotle Chief Human Resources Officer Ilene Eskenazi told CNBC Monday that since implementing the technology, the number of applicants the company has received has increased "dramatically." Eskenazi said that the company has seen an 85% application completion rate, much higher than average, because the tool helps candidates fill in fields, which cuts down the time it takes to complete. Related: Chipotle's New Robots That Can Crank Out Nearly 200 Burrito Bowls an Hour "[It] has greatly increased our funnel so that we're serving up many more candidates for our managers to evaluate," Eskenazi said. "Ava Cado" interacts with job candidates, answers questions, collects information, and schedules interviews with (human) hiring managers. It also speaks multiple languages: English, Spanish, French, and German. In October, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said the tool reduced hiring times by up to 75%. This week, Eskenazi gave an example and said that it used to take 12 days to get a candidate from application to hire-ready. Thanks to Ava Cado, it now takes three and a half days — and they show up much more prepared. "They're much more informed about what the job really is, and so then we know that the applicants are that much more interested in the job by the time they're meeting a hiring manager in person," Eskenazi said. "I personally have been pleasantly surprised by how much candidates have enjoyed interacting with Ava." It hasn't helped with sales, though. Last week, Chipotle reported that traffic had declined for the second quarter in a row.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Chipotle Stock a Buy After Its Second-Quarter Earnings?
Key Points Revenue and earnings growth has slowed dramatically amid rising competition and a sluggish economy. As growth slows, investors may question the premium valuation Chipotle has commanded historically. Chipotle's prospects for long-term expansion continue to appear promising. 10 stocks we like better than Chipotle Mexican Grill › Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) failed to unwrap a strong earnings report when it released its earnings for the second quarter of 2025. The burrito giant experienced a dramatic slowdown in growth, a concerning sign as it has historically commanded a premium valuation. This situation leaves investors in a difficult position. Former CEO Brian Niccol left the company last year to join Starbucks. Although its previous COO, Scott Boatwright, has run the company since then, the verdict is likely still out on his tenure. Chipotle continues to grow as it adds locations, so long-term shareholders have no apparent reason to sell their shares. The question is whether investors should add shares, or is it best for them to stay on the sidelines? Chipotle's Q2 results In the second quarter of 2025, Chipotle generated $3.1 billion, representing a 3% year-over-year increase. That included a 4% decrease in comparable restaurant sales. Hence, revenue grew only because Chipotle added 309 restaurants over the last year, taking the count to 3,839 as of June 30. Unfortunately, these results stand in contrast to Q2 2024, when revenue grew by 18%. The company attributed the decline to negative consumer sentiment and rising competition. In Q2 2025, net income was $436 million, decreasing by about 4% annually. Increases in operating costs, particularly labor, occupancy, and other expenses, weighed on profit growth. Moreover, while investors expected the slowdown, its revenue numbers fell short of estimates. That may partially explain why the stock fell 13% after the release. It has also fallen by one-third since reaching its all-time high in June of last year. Why investors should be concerned Admittedly, even the best growth stocks experience significant retrenchments when on a long-term growth trajectory. Investors often treat such occasions as a buying opportunity, and they have a strong argument for such thinking. The stock is up by more than 5,000% since its 2006 IPO. Additionally, its massive footprint may be just the beginning of its growth. Chipotle believes it can grow to 7,000 restaurants in North America alone. Also, it has begun to establish a presence in three European countries and the Middle East, dramatically increasing its growth potential. Despite its long-term growth, Chipotle's valuation may have made the stock particularly vulnerable. Its 40 P/E ratio is not unusual,, as it has long sold at a premium. Still, with profit growth nearly at a standstill, investors could start to question why they would pay a premium for this stock. If the P/E ratio fell to the 20 range, that in itself would take the stock price down by approximately half. Furthermore, since Chipotle is not a dividend stock, investors may question whether it pays to own this stock under such conditions. Should investors buy Chipotle stock after its Q2 earnings? Given the current state of Chipotle stock, investors should probably refrain from adding shares at this time. Indeed, Chipotle is one of the most successful restaurant stocks in history. That alone likely makes it a hold for long-term investors. Unfortunately for shareholders, investors have little incentive to purchase the stock just now. Competition and a sluggish economy have so significantly impacted sales that it now relies entirely on the rapid expansion of its footprint for revenue growth. Moreover, investors do not collect a dividend, meaning they rely on the stock beating the S&P 500 index to win with holding Chipotle. Thanks to tepid revenue and profit growth, investors no longer have an incentive to pay over 40 times earnings, making near-term pain for the stock more likely. Chipotle remains on track for a massive expansion assuming its restaurants continue to succeed abroad. Nonetheless, the slowdown in growth bodes poorly for its stock in the short term. Until its valuation aligns more closely with its growth rate, it is probably not worthwhile for investors to buy more shares. Should you invest $1,000 in Chipotle Mexican Grill right now? Before you buy stock in Chipotle Mexican Grill, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Chipotle Mexican Grill wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Will Healy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short September 2025 $60 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Chipotle Stock a Buy After Its Second-Quarter Earnings? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG): The $5 Meal Line Was ‘Abhorrent,' Says Jim Cramer
We recently published . Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) has appeared on Cramer's morning show several times in 2025. He has praised the firm's CEO, Scott Boatwright, commented on high menu prices, and outlined that he prefers Texas Roadhouse instead. This time, Cramer didn't hold back after Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG)'s latest earnings results: '[On how year-to-date losses were getting material] Yeah, 4%, minus 4% comps, now they did try to put a good face on by saying that, the cadence was better. Otherwise, the stock would probably be down ten. But there was a moment on the call which was just very, very painful. Scott Boatwright talked about what the other guys were doing, the five dollar meal. Well I don't want to hear that. Cause the five dollar meal is not anything I ever want to eat. But at the same time he goes like, look with our competitors with snack occasion of five dollar meal, that's where the consumer is drifting. Towards value as a price point. Wow. I never know that this was a situation that McDonald's versus Chipotle. Now there's McDonald's down here in the scrum and Chipotle's up here. But that showed, either there's something structurally wrong with the company or they got to rethink about their pricing. I was disappointed. Photo by LikeMeat on Unsplash '[On whether the troubles were a reflection of poor management] I don't want it to be. I like him very much. That line was abhorrent. I didn't want to hear it. That the five dollar meal company that you would never eat at, cause it's just chemicals, is beating a company that's clean. That's how I felt.' While we acknowledge the potential of CMG as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the . READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
