Latest news with #WingstopInc
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Baron Discovery Fund Added Wingstop (WING) on a Dip
Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its 'Baron Discovery Fund' first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, the fund was down 6.17% (Institutional Shares), outperforming the -11.12% return for the Russell 2000 Growth Index. The market began strong in February but faded due to Trump's serious tariff enactment, which the market perceives as inflationary and slowing economic growth. The decline accelerated after April 2nd, causing fears of a trade war and global recession. In addition, please check the fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025. In its first-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Discovery Fund highlighted stocks such as Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING). Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is a restaurant company that operates under the brand name Wingstop. The one-month return of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) was 52.30%, and its shares lost 16.13% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On May 16, 2025, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stock closed at $321.08 per share with a market capitalization of $8.959 billion. Baron Discovery Fund stated the following regarding Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) in its Q1 2025 investor letter: "During the quarter we 'invested in reverse' and initiated a position in Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING). Wingstop shares have recently underperformed, as following two straight years of very strong same-store sales growth, trends have returned to normalized levels. We took advantage of this opportunity to own this high-quality company at a compelling valuation relative to its growth and margin prospects. Customers savoring boneless wings at a bustling restaurant owned by the company. Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 36 hedge fund portfolios held Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) at the end of the fourth quarter, compared to 39 in the third quarter. In the first quarter of 2025, Wingstop Inc.'s (NASDAQ:WING) revenue grew 17.4% year-over-year reaching $171 million. While we acknowledge the potential of Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the undervalued AI stock set for massive gains. In another article, we covered Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) and shared the list of best restaurant stocks to buy according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Was Jim Cramer Right About Wingstop (WING)?
We recently published a list of In this article, we are going to take a look at where Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed during the episode of Mad Money on May 1st, 2024. During the Mad Money episode which aired on Tuesday, Jim Cramer discussed how stock ownership is viewed in the United States, saying: 'Alright, look, lately, we can't go a day without hearing some widespread misperceptions about stock ownership. I gotta tell you, I think it's infuriating. Here we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Mad Money, dedicated to the proposition that you can potentially make lots of money by picking individual stocks, yet I keep hearing that most Americans don't care about the stock market, and this direction means nothing.' READ ALSO: How Did Jim Cramer's 12 Bold Predictions Play Out? and Did Jim Cramer Nail All These 9 Stock Predictions? Jim Cramer challenged the idea that the stock market only serves the wealthy, calling it a flawed and dismissive perspective that overlooks the financial involvement of millions of ordinary Americans, saying: 'It's the whole reason anyone watches the darn show, and it generally matters, not just to the rich, but to tens of millions of regular people, home gamers, and never let any politician tell you otherwise. […] More than 60% of Americans have some exposure to the market, either directly or indirectly. 70 million people have active 401Ks. Millions more have retired with them. 60 million people have IRAs. Only 156 million people voted in November. I mean, we're talking half the electorate here.' Cramer argued that stockholders make up a major segment of the population and should not be ignored. He stated, 'It's not just arrogant, rich people who own stocks.' He also criticized affluent individuals who caution others against investing in stocks while continuing to benefit from their tax advantages. As he put it: 'Now look, stocks are ridiculously tax advantaged, more than just rich people want that. In a world where probably no more than 10% of this country can retire on their paycheck savings, stocks represent a different kind of social security, a one-sided pack where people try to save and the government dismisses them.' For this article, we compiled a list of 13 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money on May 1st, 2024. We then calculated their performance from May 1st, 2024, market close to April 30th, 2025, market close. We have also included the hedge fund sentiment for the stocks, which we sourced from Insider Monkey's Q4 2024 database of over 900 hedge funds. The stocks are listed in the order that Cramer mentioned them. Please note that this article mentions Jim Cramer's previous opinions and may not account for any changes to his opinions regarding the stocks that are mentioned. It is primarily an examination of how his previously provided opinions have panned out. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). Customers savoring boneless wings at a bustling restaurant owned by the Inc. (NASDAQ:WING), the fast-casual chicken wing chain, was featured during an interview with its CEO Michael Skippworth, after the company posted blowout earnings and raised its full-year forecast. Here's what Jim Cramer said at the time: 'The Red Hot chicken wing chain reported this morning numbers were just excellent. Wingstop delivered another great quarter. […] This was another miss by Cramer as the shares of the restaurant have sunk by 32.37% since those comments. However, Cramer has changed his view on Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) since then. Here's what his said on February this year: 'I made some critical comments about Wingstop's quarter last time. I felt that they didn't give you enough information on what was wrong. They berated me, they chastised me, and uh, well look let the numbers speak for themselves, the stock's down thirty-five today. And I had nothing to do with it.' Overall, WING ranks 4th on our list of stocks that Jim Cramer discussed during the episode of Mad Money on May 1st, 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of WING as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WING but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Wingstop Inc. (WING) Among the Best Fast Food Stocks to Buy Now?
We recently compiled a list of the 12 Best Fast Food Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stands against the other fast food stocks. Fast food stocks are businesses that run quick-service restaurants. These stocks can be a smart option to invest in the restaurant industry, which tends to perform well even during economic downturns due to its low costs and convenience. For example, the early COVID-19 pandemic was not favorable for the restaurant business overall, but fast-food chains that were able to offer curbside pickup, delivery, and drive-thru services performed better than their competitors that relied on dine-in. A challenging economic situation presents fewer risks because many fast-food restaurants prioritize providing great value. As per a research report, the global fast food market has expanded gradually in recent years. It will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9%, from $645.2 billion in 2024 to $663.92 billion in 2025. Changes in customer choices and lifestyles, rapid urbanization, globalization, greater demand for convenience meals, and an increase in the working population have all contributed to historic expansion. The fast-food market's largest region in 2024 was North America. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest-growing region over the projection period. Automation is changing the fast-food service business in the United States. Robotic systems and artificial intelligence tools are now reducing production times and increasing efficiency. Complex beverage preparation time has been reduced from 87 to just 36 seconds due to a new drink-making system. In the meantime, a dual-sided grill has sped up cooking by 70% in high-volume locations, and an avocado-processing robot reduces prep time by 50%. According to a National Restaurant Association research released in February 2023, 58% of restaurant operators anticipated that 2023 would see a rise in the usage of technology and automation to cope with labor shortages. In a May 2023 poll, HungerRush found that 36 percent of 1,000 Americans stated they believed that large restaurant chains lacked enough employees to process orders, make food, and deliver food. Chief information officer Aaron Nilsson of Jet's Pizza, a franchise with locations in Michigan, introduced a phone bot driven by artificial intelligence to take orders for pizza. He stated: 'Now most consumers expect their local pizza place and their favorite coffee house to remember their last order, know what credit card they want to use, and make it quick and easy for them to complete an order. Society has moved on and automation is expected – even from the small-time operator.' According to a 2024 LendingTree survey, 78% of Americans now consider fast food a luxury, with prices rising by more than 60% since 2014. Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) have been compelled by this change to reconsider what value is. Companies are prioritizing quality, convenience, and technology over price competition to defend higher prices. According to Savneet Singh, CEO of a significant restaurant technology business, the value today isn't just about price; it's about the entire experience. Moreover, technology is being used by businesses to improve this perceived value. AI-powered kiosks, drive-thru technology, and mobile ordering shorten wait times and customize service, while kitchen automation increases reliability. These days, loyalty programs use data analytics to provide hyper-personalized rewards, which boosts consumer engagement and encourages repeat visits. However, affordability is still crucial. The expense of fast food has caused 62% of consumers to cut back on their purchases, which has led several businesses to bring back $5 meal offers, as per the LendingTree study. A combination of price, quality, convenience, and personalization is the new QSR value equation. QSRs have the potential to redefine luxury as intelligent, easily accessible service by utilizing technology and loyalty. Customers savoring boneless wings at a bustling restaurant owned by the company. For this article, we sifted through the online rankings to form an initial list of the 20 Fast Food Stocks. From the resultant dataset, we chose 12 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors, using Insider Monkey's database of 1,009 hedge funds in Q4 2024 to gauge hedge fund sentiment for stocks. We have used the stock's revenue growth year-over-year as a tie-breaker in case two or more stocks have the same number of hedge funds invested. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here). Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 36 Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is a rapidly expanding restaurant chain with over 2,550 locations that operates on a franchise basis with a $10,000 initial deposit per outlet. One of its main points of differentiation is its dedication to using fresh food preparation methods, eliminating heat lamps, and making sure that everything is prepared on-site, including sandwiches and hand-diced carrots. The business intends to open 4,000 outlets abroad and 6,000 in the United States as part of its ambitious expansion plans. In terms of financial efficiency, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) outperforms several of its competitors on the basis of return on capital. Often viewed as a rival to McDonald's, competitors such as Shake Shack are far less effective. The company's fiscal 2024 financials set a new record, marking the 21st straight year that same-store sales had grown and making it one of the Best Food Stocks. Domestic same-store sales rose 19.9%, primarily due to transaction growth, while system-wide sales rose 36.8% to $4.8 billion. Additionally, it reported an adjusted EBITDA of $212 million, a 44.8% rise. Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) showed strong franchisee demand by adding a record 349 restaurant sites to its portfolio in 2024, achieving its goal of exceeding 10,000 units. As it maintained its excellent momentum, the firm recorded a 10.1% increase in same-store sales for Q4 and a 70% increase in digital sales. My Wingstop, the company's in-house IT stack, played a significant role in boosting interaction and expanding its digital database to more than 50 million clients. Furthermore, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) saw an increase in brand awareness and reach among younger consumers as a result of its strategic alliances with the NFL, NBA, and WWE. Overall, WING ranks 6th on our list of the 12 Best Fast Food Stocks to Buy Now. While we acknowledge the potential of Fast Food companies, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WING but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wingstop (WING) Tests AI-Driven Kitchens Amid Bullish Upgrade from Jefferies
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stands against other top AI news and stock ratings today. AI continues to advance at an unprecedented rate and can now even determine how a person is feeling. A Spanish startup, Neurologyca, claimed that its Kopernica AI system can now supposedly read human emotions. It can detect a range of neurological conditions and discern how a person feels, even for a crowd of people. Meanwhile, the Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) and NeuCyber NeuroTech said on March 31st that it plans to implant its brain chip into 13 people by year-end, which could mean they would surpass Elon Musk's neuralink in terms of patient data collection. As security concerns over the misuse of AI continue to loom, companies are increasingly focusing on the responsible use of the technology by implementing stricter guardrails amid rapid technology development. On March 31st, Anthropic announced implementing updates to its 'responsible scaling' policy for AI, defining model safety levels to determine the need for additional security. For instance, if the company is stress-testing an AI model and believes it could help a 'moderately-resourced state program' develop chemical and biological weapons, it will enforce new security protections before launching that technology. Elsewhere, Anthropic closed a funding round in March, which valued the company at $61.5 billion. However, it is a fraction of the $300 billion valuation OpenAI secured in a recently closed $40 billion round led by SoftBank. SoftBank is reportedly seeking loans of up to $16.5 billion to fund AI investments in the US, which would mark the biggest borrowing denominated in dollars. Sources told Bloomberg that the bridge loan would have a 12-month tenor and that talks with banks are in early stages. People familiar with the matter added that the terms could change as the negotiations evolve over time. We selected AI stocks by reviewing news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that hold stakes in them, as of Q4 2024. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). Customers savoring boneless wings at a bustling restaurant owned by the company. Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) is a fast-casual restaurant chain specialising in cooked-to-order and tossed chicken wings. The company leverages a global franchise model and has been testing a new AI-based kitchen operating platform to improve and accelerate services while simplifying tasks for staff. On March 31st, Jefferies analyst Andy Barish upgraded Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ:WING) stock to a 'Buy' rating from 'Hold' and retained its 12-month stock price target of $270. The analyst noted that Wingstop shares are oversold with a valuation 'now overly discounting' the company's higher unit and EBITDA growth compared to peers. The brokerage believes the restaurant chain's same-store-sales moderation is well understood and overlooks its underlying traffic and low-teens unit growth. Jefferies said that visibility into same-store sales is improving, and additional drivers in kitchen AI positions the company for potential surprises beyond 2025. Overall, WING ranks 5th on our list of top AI news and stock ratings today. While we acknowledge the potential of WING as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WING but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wingstop Inc. to Announce Fiscal First Quarter 2025 Financial Results on April 30, 2025
DALLAS, April 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) today announced that it will host a conference call and webcast to discuss its fiscal first quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. ET. A press release with fiscal first quarter 2025 financial results will be issued before the market opens that morning. The conference call can be joined telephonically by dialing 1-877-259-5243 or 1-412-317-5176 (international) and asking for the Wingstop conference call. A replay will be available two hours after the call and can be accessed by dialing 1-877-344-7529 or 1-412-317-0088 (international), then entering the replay code 4143622. The replay will be available through Wednesday, May 7, 2025. The conference call will also be webcast live and later archived on the investor relations section of Wingstop's corporate website at under the 'News & Events' section. The webcast can also be accessed directly at About Wingstop Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Dallas, TX, Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) operates and franchises more than 2,550 locations worldwide. The Wing Experts are dedicated to Serving the World Flavor through an unparalleled guest experience and a best-in-class technology platform, all while offering classic and boneless wings, tenders, and chicken sandwiches, cooked to order and hand sauced-and-tossed in fans' choice of 12 bold, distinctive flavors. Wingstop's menu also features signature sides including fresh-cut, seasoned fries and freshly-made ranch and bleu cheese dips. In fiscal year 2024, Wingstop's system-wide sales increased 36.8% to approximately $4.8 billion, marking the 21st consecutive year of same store sales growth. With a vision of becoming a Top 10 Global Restaurant Brand, Wingstop's system is comprised of corporate-owned restaurants and independent franchisees, or brand partners, who account for approximately 98% of Wingstop's total restaurant count. In 2024, Wingstop secured a place on Ad Age's 'Hottest Brands' list. The Company also earned a spot as one of QSR Magazine's "Best Brands to Work For" and ranked #14 on Entrepreneur Magazine's 'Franchise 500' as one of the fastest-growing franchises. In 2023, Wingstop earned its "Best Places to Work" certification. For more information, visit or and follow @Wingstop on X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Learn more about Wingstop's involvement in its local communities at Unless specifically noted otherwise, references to our website addresses, the website addresses of third parties or other references to online content in this press release do not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on such website and should not be considered part of this release. Media ContactMaddie LuporiMedia@ Investor ContactKristen ThomasIR@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Wingstop Restaurants Inc. Sign in to access your portfolio
