By Kelly Cloonan

Shares of BJ's Restaurants rallied after traffic trends improved in recent weeks, outperforming competitors, in the latest sign that new management's turnaround strategy is paying off.

The stock rose 18% to $33.78 on Friday, on pace for its largest percent increase since November 2020. Shares are now up 11% this month.

Chief Executive Lyle Tick said traffic rose about 3.5% in the past six weeks, ahead of industry benchmarks in the casual dining industry.

"We're seeing improvement in guest metrics, improvement in satisfaction, improvement in value, and eventually you expect to see that starting to come through in frequency," Tick said during a call with analysts. "We're starting to see those frequency numbers improve across income cohorts and age cohorts."

The company expects increased traffic and a strong product lineup, including a revamped pizza offering, to boost results into the end of the year, backing its outlook for same-store sales growth of about 2% for the year.

The guidance implies about 2% to 2.5% comparable sales growth in the fourth quarter, accelerating from lower-than-expected 0.5% growth in the latest quarter, Jefferies analysts said in a note.

BJ's outperformance reflects tailwinds from its strategic initiatives, the analysts said, which should drive further same-store sales and traffic improvements through the fourth quarter and beyond.

"We think much runway left ahead," the analysts said.

Oppenheimer analysts similarly said the improved traffic reflects success under the new management team's strategy.

"Over the last 12 months, BJRI's new management team has successfully identified new sales drivers and executed a fresh game plan," the analysts said. The analysts also said the company's forecast for same-store sales growth was, "impressive given the softening industry environment."

In its latest quarter, the company swung to a profit of $465,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with a loss of $2.9 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings per share were 4 cents, topping analyst estimates of 3 cents a share, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 1.4% to $330.2 million. Analysts expected $334.2 million.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 31, 2025 15:42 ET (19:42 GMT)

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