Cheesecake Factory price target raised to $45 from $40 at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Harbour raised the firm’s price target on Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) to $45 from $40 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares. With industry demand improved, the firm sees a likely better quarter for restaurants and food distributors than Q1, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Ongoing policy noise remains a risk but middle/upper income customer cohorts remain solid, and costs are mostly benign, the firm argues.