Benchmark has maintained a Buy recommendation on Wingstop Inc. and kept its price objective at $320.00 following the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter 2025 report. That price target implies roughly 20% upside from the referenced trading price of $266.69, although InvestingPro data indicates the share price is trading slightly above its Fair Value.
Wingstop’s fourth-quarter performance surpassed expectations on several fronts. Total revenue for the period was reported at $176 million. Restaurant-level operating margin expanded to 24.4%, a 200 basis-point improvement relative to the prior year. Systemwide same-store sales declined 5.6%, which was a smaller fall than the consensus projection of a 6.7% decline.
On the profitability side, adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.00, beating consensus estimates by $0.17, a result Benchmark and the company attributed in part to cost efficiencies. Adjusted EBITDA was $62 million, topping the $58 million analysts had forecast.
Management outlined two strategic initiatives it expects will help drive business momentum in the latter half of fiscal 2026. First, the company plans to more fully leverage its Wingstop Smart Kitchen platform to accelerate speed of service. Second, Wingstop intends to introduce its inaugural loyalty program, Club Wingstop, around mid-year and enroll it into a 60 million customer database.
Several other sell-side firms have issued note updates following the quarter. Truist Securities raised its price target to $375 while keeping a Buy rating. RBC Capital highlighted that Wingstop’s same-store sales outperformed consensus by 113 basis points and that EBITDA exceeded expectations by 6.7%, though RBC trimmed its own price target to $340 citing softer trends anticipated in the first quarter. Guggenheim raised its price target to $315, citing the company’s technology initiatives and upward revisions to 2026 earnings estimates. Stifel increased its target to $325 and pointed to the national rollout of the Club Wingstop loyalty program in 2026 as a meaningful catalyst. Bernstein SocGen Group reiterated an Outperform rating with a $350 price target, noting an easing of macro headwinds that could be supportive over time.
Operationally, the company reported that the Smart Kitchen rollout across the U.S. has produced a mid-single-digit sales uplift. Tests of the nascent loyalty program in the fourth quarter showed a 7% increase in customer frequency. Taken together, those program-level results were cited as evidence that Wingstop is making operational progress heading into 2026.
Context and next steps
Investors will likely watch the pace of the Club Wingstop rollout and additional data from Smart Kitchen deployments closely, as those initiatives are positioned by management as the primary drivers of improvement in the back half of fiscal 2026. Near-term results, including first-quarter trends referenced by some analysts, will also factor into how the street updates earnings and valuation assumptions.