• Earlier this week, Wells Fargo upgraded Texas Roadhouse’s rating, arguing that current beef cost pressures are temporary and already reflected in the market’s expectations.

• Analysts highlighted that the chain’s ability to maintain sales momentum despite higher input costs underscores the importance of its brand strength and operational discipline.

• We’ll now examine how this reassessment of beef cost headwinds could influence Texas Roadhouse’s investment narrative and longer-term earnings profile.

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To own Texas Roadhouse, you need to believe its strong brand and guest traffic can offset persistent cost and wage pressures over time. The Wells Fargo upgrade directly addresses the biggest near term concern, beef inflation, but does not remove the risk that elevated protein costs and tight supply could keep margins under pressure longer than expected.

Against this backdrop, Texas Roadhouse’s reiterated 2025 and 2026 guidance, supported by pricing actions and ongoing sales growth, is especially relevant. It shows management still expects positive comparable sales and earnings progression even as commodity inflation weighs on profitability, which ties closely to how investors assess whether current beef cost headwinds are a temporary earnings drag or a more durable margin reset.

Yet while sales trends look encouraging, investors should also be aware of the risk that persistently high beef prices could eventually…

Read the full narrative on Texas Roadhouse (it’s free!)

Texas Roadhouse’s narrative projects $7.4 billion revenue and $594.2 million earnings by 2028. This requires 9.1% yearly revenue growth and approximately a $156 million earnings increase from $438.0 million today.

Uncover how Texas Roadhouse’s forecasts yield a $189.16 fair value, a 10% upside to its current price.

Six members of the Simply Wall St Community currently see fair value for Texas Roadhouse between US$149 and US$222, with opinions spread across that range. As you weigh those views, remember that elevated beef inflation and input cost pressure remain central to how the company’s future profitability could evolve and are worth comparing across several alternative forecasts.

Explore 6 other fair value estimates on Texas Roadhouse – why the stock might be worth 13% less than the current price!

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