Citi is moving off the sidelines when it comes to Brinker International . The bank upgraded shares of the casual restaurant operator, which owns the Chili’s and Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant chains, to a buy rating from neutral. Analyst Jon Tower also lifted his target price to $176 from $144, which points to a 25% gain ahead. One tailwind for the stock is a more favorable cost backdrop emerging, Tower wrote. EAT YTD mountain EAT YTD chart “Brazil tariffs dropping will take pressure off EAT’s beef outlook, a key pressure point in the brand’s more muted FY26 margin outlook on the F1Q call,” he said. While costs will decrease, the analyst continues to see still-strong sales and sales drivers in place that could carry momentum through next year. Chili’s has also been able to lure younger diners and create brand loyalty among them. Rising sales have also added to Chili’s advertisement budget, resulting in an ongoing positive feedback loop. “Strong traffic growth at Chili’s over the past 6 quarters did coincide with a large spike in media spend (~$145M in FY25 vs. ~$58M in FY23); however, guest conversion metrics suggest this is sticky traffic,” Tower wrote. “Younger guests have flocked to the brand, building confidence in longer-term brand relevancy and traffic growth persisting in FY26/beyond.” The stock has added 6% this year and climbed more than 1% in the premarket following the rating change. Analysts are split on the stock. Of the 22 who cover it, 12 rate it a buy or strong buy while the remaining 10 designated it as a hold, according to LSEG.
