CAVA: Undervalued High-Growth Restaurant Concept With Strong Unit Economics and Long Runway for U.S. Expansion

William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia has reiterated their bullish stance on CAVA stock, giving a Buy rating on December 15.

Sharon Zackfia has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors related to CAVA’s strong growth profile and attractive unit economics. Management meetings highlighted the brand’s broad customer appeal and successful expansion into new regions, resulting in new restaurants generating sales above the current system average and delivering strong first-year cash returns as margins move into the mid-20% range. This performance, across both existing and newer markets, supports a long runway for expansion from just over 400 locations today, with internal analysis indicating the U.S. market could ultimately sustain about 2,000 CAVA units.

Sharon Zackfia’s rating is based on the view that the stock’s current valuation does not fully reflect this growth potential. At roughly 4.1 times her 2026 sales estimate, she sees solid value relative to CAVA’s robust new-store productivity and clear line of sight to roughly 25% annual EBITDA growth through 2027. Looking further out, she projects the company could exceed $2.5 billion in revenue and approach $400 million in adjusted EBITDA by 2032 with around 1,000 locations. While she acknowledges competitive pressures, labor cost inflation, management hiring needs, and geographic concentration as key risks, these are viewed as manageable in light of the company’s strong fundamentals and expansion prospects, supporting her Buy recommendation.

In another report released on December 15, Jefferies also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a $85.00 price target.

Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 54 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is neutral on the stock.