** Cheesecake Factory's CAKE.O shares up 3.7% at $44 premarket
on report activist investor urges restaurant operator to
consider breakup
** Houston-based JCP Investment, which has built about 2% stake
in CAKE, calling for co to spin off three of its smaller brands,
Wall Street Journal reported late Mon
** JCP told executives that North Italia, Flower Child, and
Culinary Dropout brands would be better off as a separate co
** In Aug, the hedge fund founded by James Pappas disclosed
initial stake of ~131k shares in CAKE
** Co has ~50.87 mln shares outstanding for $2.2 bln market
cap, per LSEG
** Through Mon close, CAKE shares have gained ~21% YTD
following ~10% gain in 2023
** Of 21 analysts covering CAKE, recommendation breakdown is
8 "strong buy" or "buy", 9 "hold" and 4 "sell" and median PT is
$43
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com lance.tupper@tr.com
1-646-279-6380)))