Shares of Chili's parent Brinker International Inc (NYSE:EAT) are moving 3.4% higher to trade at $164.59 this morning, after landing an upgrade to "outperform" from "in-line" at Evercore ISI, with a price-target hike to $210 from $190. The brokerage said sustainable near-term growth and improving customer satisfaction were catalysts for the move. Heading into today, 15 of the 19 following analysts carried a "hold" recommendation, leaving ample room for more upgrades moving forward.
EAT has been working to recover from its August lows near $150, today eyeing its best daily performance in more than a week. Earlier, the shares briefly overtook the $170 level for the first time since July and now sport a year-to-date gain of 25%.
Put traders have been moving in over the past 10 weeks. This is per EAT's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 1.52 over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks in the 96th percentile of readings from the past 12 months.
Options traders are pricing in relatively low volatility expectations, per Brinker International stock's Schaefer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 44% that sits in the 10th percentile of readings from the past 12 months. It's also worth noting that the stock has tended to outperform these volatility expectations, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 75 out of 100.
