BUZZ-Chipotle rises as Morgan Stanley turns bullish

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG.N up 2.5% to $55.34 early Mon after Morgan Stanley upgrades to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', pointing to an attractive entry point

Brokerage boosts PT by $5 to $70, implying ~30% upside to stock's last close

Morgan Stanley says as shares have faded on weak sales data and growth stock pressures, an opportunity to step in has presented itself

Compares are "tough right now", MS says, and while Q1 and perhaps Q2 could look "not great", the drivers of product, marketing and throughput should still deliver a "decent" 2025 and beyond

CMG will likely be a leader in deploying automation at substantial scale, which restrains costs, drives margins and throughput, and allows co to be judicious on pricing, where it already has an edge, MS says

Last month, CMG provided a tepid annual sales forecast, flagging proposed tariffs on Mexico

Of 36 brokerages covering CMG, recommendation breakdown is 27 "strong buy" or "buy", rest "hold"' and median PT is $68, LSEG data shows

With moves on the session, stock off ~8% YTD vs S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary index's .SPLRCD ~4.5% decline