Chipotle Shares Up 1.5% As BMO Upgrades To Outperform

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. shares rose 1.5% Friday, after BMO upgraded the stock to outperform from market perform. The stock "represents a compelling investment opportunity as we expect investor focus to transition over the next one to two quarters from near-term comp deceleration to the combination of a comp inflection, EPS upside, and cash deployment," BMO analyst Andrew Strelzik wrote in a note. Strelzik is expecting a new ad campaign, technology initiatives and pricing on beef items to help comparisons in the next one to two quarters and into 2016. He further expects commodity prices to fall below expectations in 2015 and 2016, and believes it likely that the company will return cash to shareholders. BMO raised its target price to $760, or 20% above the stock's current trading level. Shares are down 7.7% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained about 1.3%.