BJ's Restaurants rises after Mizuho turns bullish

** Shares of casual dining chain BJ's Restaurants BJRI.O up 3.7% at $59.40 and snapping a four-day losing streak on Thurs after Mizuho upgrades to 'outperform' from 'neutral', citing expected Q3 upside

** Brokerage lifts PT by $2 to $76, which is ~33% above stock's last close

** Mizuho raises its Q3 same-store sales growth estimate to 5.5% from 4.6%, above 4.3% consensus it says, pointing to strength from promotions and upgraded menu items

** As visibility into higher growth increases through 2027, Mizuho says, it expects BJRI's current valuation of 7.6x to expand toward peer avg of 9.9x EV/2027 EBITDA multiple

** BJRI shares now up ~51% YTD vs 30% advance in S&P 600 Restaurants index .SPSMCREST, but are ~20% below their Jul 30 52-week intraday high of $74.60

** 5 of 9 brokerages rate stock "buy" or "strong buy", 4 "hold"; median PT $76, per LSEG data