Based in Calabasas, California, Cheesecake Factory operates a chain of upscale casual dining restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory, North Italia and Flower Child brands. It also operates other dining concepts, including Blanco, a Mexican restaurant; Culinary Dropout, which offers casual dining; and Fly Bye, a takeout concept. In addition to restaurants, CAKE operates two bakeries that produces cheesecake and other baked products for the company's restaurants and other foodservice operators, retailers and distributors. The company has 48,000 employees.

As detailed by Argus' Mark Arbeter, CMT, there was a major bearish intraday reversal on March 8, accompanied by heavy downside volume, especially in the Nasdaq, Nasdaq 100 (QQQ), semiconductors, and most of the Technology sector. That was followed by downside follow-through. The QQQs and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) lost their 21-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) by a minor amount - though we note that the 21-day EMA has been recaptured quickly of late.

Management's ability to "raise guidance" can often be a catalyst for market-beating returns in the quarters ahead. The third-quarter earnings season is wrapping up, with blended earnings (actual results and the consensus for those still to report) showing a 6.3% gain, year-over-year, according to Refinitiv. That is considerably better than the 1.0% expected at the start of the earnings period, and should be enough to end the "earnings recession" that investors have endured over the past three quarters. Propelling the 3Q outperformance were strong gains in Communication Services, up 46%, while Energy again (like last quarter) is performing the worst, down 33%. Our analysts are always on the lookout for companies that boost their outlooks during earnings season. Here is an initial list of BUY-rated companies in Argus Coverage at which management raised guidance or increased its outlook during the 3Q23 EPS reporting season.

Based in Calabasas, California, Cheesecake Factory operates a chain of upscale casual dining restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory, North Italia and Flower Child brands. It also operates other dining concepts, including Blanco, a Mexican restaurant; Culinary Dropout, which offers casual dining; and Fly Bye, a takeout concept. In addition to restaurants, CAKE operates two bakeries that produces cheesecake and other baked products for the company's restaurants and other foodservice operators, retailers and distributors. The company has 46,250 employees.