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Analyzing the stock…
70
Gathering technical, fundamental, and market data — a few seconds
Consumer Discretionary · ·
$96.51
▲ $0.64 (+0.7%)
Market data updated: 09/20 06:29 PM
Fundamentals updated: 09/20/2026
News analyzed: 09/20/2026
Market Cap
Not available
Day Range
$94.58 - $96.54
52-Week Range
$43.07 - $118.46
Beta
—
Next Earnings
26.10.2026
Support
$78.78
Resistance
$118.46
CAKE is a stock from the Consumer Cyclical sector — Retail, automotive, and leisure — demand rises and falls with economic sentiment and consumers' disposable income.
+75.1% (1Y)
Strengths: 5/30 factors positiveRisk: High
This score and all analysis on this page are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Read the full disclaimer
Weighted: Technical 25% · Fundamental 20% · Growth 15% · Valuation 15% · News 10% · Quality 10% · Risk 5%
Overall Score
🟡 Mixed
Technical Trend
🔴 Bearish
Insiders
🔴 Bearish
Computed directly from the same signals behind the score above — not AI-generated.
Biggest positive driver
Free cash flow growth
Free cash flow growth: 43.6%
Growth
Biggest negative driver
DCF Fair Value
Estimated fair value: $47.53 vs. price $96.51 (-50.8%)
Fair Value
What to watch next
When today echoes the past.
NO RELIABLE ECHO FOUND
Only 2 historical analog(s) found after removing overlapping dates — too few for a statistically meaningful comparison.
Historical matches considered: 2
TIME ECHO identifies historical situations that resemble the current market state. Historical outcomes are not guarantees of future performance. Similarity does not imply causation, and results may change as new data becomes available.
🗓️ What Changed This Week
🌱 Building History
We don't have a real data point from a week ago for this stock yet. The weekly comparison will appear once enough history has accumulated.
📊 Score History
45
Today
—
30D
—
90D
—
1Y
🐂🐻 Investment Thesis
🐂 Bull Case
🐻 Bear Case
🔍 What Could Prove This Wrong
This isn't a price-direction forecast — just a synthesis of real, already-computed data, and future conditions that could change the picture.
🧬 STOCK DNA
This stock's profile across 8 real dimensions — a research tool, not a recommendation
Growth
48
Quality
58
Value
38
Momentum
29
Risk
42
Sentiment
80
Fundamental
44
Institutional
0
Stocks with a similar DNA right now
This stock hasn't been analyzed by StockIQAI's movement engine yet — coverage is still expanding. Check back soon.
Recent media coverage of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated highlights its strong financial performance and investor optimism. Analysts note record restaurant margins, a decade-high profit growth, and robust earnings—including a 13% and 24% increase in the past two quarters—driving a 70% stock rally over three months. The company’s improved traffic, productivity, and digital engagement are cited as key drivers, with analysts suggesting further upside potential. Some comparisons to peers like McDonald’s also underscore its growth prospects.
AI summary based on English-language news sources only — not investment advice.
Everyone's writing about The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated. News trend score: 80. Reason: 8 of the last 20 articles are positive, versus 3 negative.
News trend analysis is based on article sentiment only, and is not investment advice or financial counsel. Read the full disclaimer
🌡️ Emotional Temperature
48
🎯 Conviction (vs. Emotion)
41
Psychology
56
Fundamentals
44
Technical
29
Valuation
38
Extreme momentum, price far above its moving average, and a large premium over fair value.
The price rise has far outpaced the actual improvement in fundamental data.
The stock is moving in lockstep with its peers at the same intensity, rather than on its own data.
A sharp drop, unusual volume, and negative news sentiment all at once — selling pressure that looks emotional.
Price, volume, and sentiment accelerating together — a sign investors are chasing the price, not just following it.
Price (3M)
+25%
Market Narrative
57
Fundamental Reality
41
Narrative Gap
+16
🔀 Psychology Acceleration
News attention/sentiment is running well ahead of the price move itself.
🧠 StockIQ Psychologist
The market behavior for CAKE is dominated by **euphoria**, as extreme valuation (+126% above DCF) and a massive narrative-reality gap (36 points) align with overconfidence. The stock’s momentum (+0.6% ROC) and neutral RSI (49) suggest a detached, speculative mindset, while modest herding (relative outperformance) hints at selective optimism. The key question is whether this disconnect between price and fundamentals will persist or if a correction will test the 200-day average (+41.4% above). The absence of panic or loss aversion further implies complacency despite stretched metrics.
Updated: 09/09/2026, 03:22 AM
What could change this?
👥 What the crowd believes
"CAKE's restaurant margins hit a decade high as traffic, productivity and sales leverage fuel gains, with further upside possible."
"This outperformance in a period when many restaurant peers are wrestling with rising costs and weaker traffic highlights the resilience of its upscale, sit-down dining model."
"CAKE Stock Soars 70% in the Past 3 Months: Can the rally continue?"
"Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) could produce exceptional returns because of its solid growth attributes."
📈 14D Investor Psychology
Signal classification confidence: High (confidence in the behavioral read, not a price prediction). Describes observable market behavior, not what any individual investor thinks, and is not a buy/sell signal.
🏛️ Investor DNA — Historical Investors
A Historical Strategy Simulation: assuming each investor follows their documented principles, how would they rate this stock today? This is not a prediction of what they would actually do.
🟢 Best match
Samuel Armstrong Nelson — 94/100
🔴 Weakest match
Benjamin Graham (Enterprising Investor) — 0/100
🗣️ Why do they disagree?
This stock’s starkly divided verdicts reflect a deep chasm between methodologies prioritizing technical or cyclical signals and those emphasizing valuation, risk, or market psychology. Samuel Armstrong Nelson’s high score suggests a favorable cycle position, while Burton Malkiel and John Bogle’s lukewarm stance aligns with their skepticism toward stock-picking over passive indexing. Meanwhile, the sharp contrast—from Philip Fisher’s mid-range approval to Benjamin Graham’s outright rejection—highlights a clash between growth potential and traditional defensive investing principles. Risk-averse voices like Gerald M. Loeb and Howard Marks flag the stock’s volatility and late-cycle risks, while Walter Bagehot’s extreme caution underscores liquidity concerns. Even Jesse Livermore’s neutral stance contrasts with Nelson’s bullish cycle reading, illustrating how divergent frameworks interpret the same data.
Samuel Armstrong Nelson
The ABC of Stock Speculation (1903)
🟢 94
Cycle position looks favorable — closer to oversold than overbought
Key question
Is the price overextended, or is there still room to move?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Philip Fisher
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits (1958)
🟡 53
Solid, but not the exceptional quality Fisher looked for
Key question
How exceptional is this business, really?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Jack Schwager
Market Wizards (1989)
🟡 53
No clear edge either way
Key question
What's the risk/reward here, and where is my exit point?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Burton Malkiel & John Bogle
A Random Walk Down Wall Street (1973) / The Little Book of Common Sense Investing (2007)
🟡 51
Mixed case — the evidence for picking this stock over an index is not strong
Key question
Do I actually have an edge here, or do I just think I do?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Edgar Lawrence Smith
Common Stocks as Long-Term Investments (1924)
🟡 50
Reasonable but not a clear long-term holding
Key question
Is this a stock I'd be happy to hold and forget about for a decade?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Howard Marks (Market Cycle)
Mastering the Market Cycle (2018)
🟡 47
Somewhere in the middle of the cycle
Key question
Where are we in the cycle right now — near a hot extreme, or a cold one?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Jesse Livermore
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (1923) / How to Trade in Stocks (1940)
🟡 45
No clear trend — Livermore preferred to stay out of this
Key question
What is the price telling me right now?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Thorstein Veblen
The Theory of Business Enterprise (1904)
🟡 45
Mixed signal on whether growth translates to real profit
Key question
Is management building real value, or just building itself?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Charles Mackay
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)
🟡 43
Pattern consistent with a crowd delusion Mackay would flag
Key question
Am I being swept along with the crowd, or thinking for myself?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money (2020)
🔴 34
The kind of volatility that tends to shake patient holders out
Key question
Could I live with this volatility long enough for compounding to actually work?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Peter Lynch
One Up on Wall Street (1989)
🔴 22
Doesn't clear Lynch's growth-at-a-reasonable-price bar
Key question
Is the growth worth the price?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Gerald M. Loeb
The Battle for Investment Survival (1935)
🔴 22
Risk profile Loeb would flag as a real threat to capital
Key question
How much capital could I lose here if I'm wrong?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Howard Marks
The Most Important Thing (2011) / Mastering the Market Cycle (2018)
🔴 19
Risk/valuation combination Marks would flag as a caution sign
Key question
What is the market probably misunderstanding about the risk here?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Walter Bagehot
Lombard Street (1873)
🔴 2
Liquidity position Bagehot would flag as a real risk
Key question
Does this company have enough liquidity to survive real stress?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Benjamin Graham
Security Analysis (1934) / The Intelligent Investor (1949)
🔴 0
Fails most of Graham's defensive criteria
Key question
Where is my margin of safety?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Benjamin Graham (Enterprising Investor)
The Intelligent Investor (1949) — the Enterprising Investor chapters
🔴 0
Not statistically cheap enough for the Enterprising Investor's looser safety bar
Key question
Is the stock statistically cheap enough to justify the extra risk?
Fact → Principle → Simulation
Based on the last 281 trading days, calculated from real price data. Click an indicator for details and a chart.
🔴 Most indicators support a downtrend (2 bullish · 9 bearish · 0 neutral)
A market-structure read based purely on real price and volume data — not full classic Wyckoff schematic identification (Phase A-E), but a quantitative analysis of what can reliably be computed: trading ranges, "effort vs. result", volume within the range, and Spring/Upthrust detection.
The stock is in a clear uptrend with no defined trading range in the period examined.
Medium confidence
The Wyckoff Method, developed by Richard Wyckoff in the early 20th century, reads the balance of supply and demand through price and volume, based on the premise that large investors ("smart money") quietly accumulate shares before rallies and quietly distribute them before declines. The read here is based solely on real price and volume data — full, precise identification of classic Wyckoff patterns (such as Phases A-E) requires human chart-reading experience and judgment, so this is an approximate algorithmic read, not a substitute for professional analysis. This should not be considered investment advice.
Gross Margin
—
Operating Margin
5.0%
Net Margin
4.0%
EBITDA Margin
7.9%
ROE
34.0%
ROA
4.6%
ROIC
—
EPS
$3.17
Cash
$215.73M
Total Debt
$630.07M
Current Ratio
0.59
Debt/Equity
1.44
Total dividend per share paid each year, over the last 5 years.
| Ex-Dividend Date | Amount per Share |
|---|---|
| 11.8.2026 | $0.300 |
| 13.5.2026 | $0.300 |
| 12.5.2026 | $0.300 |
| 4.3.2026 | $0.300 |
| 3.3.2026 | $0.300 |
| 10.11.2025 | $0.270 |
| 9.11.2025 | $0.270 |
| 12.8.2025 | $0.270 |
| 11.8.2025 | $0.270 |
| 14.5.2025 | $0.270 |
| 13.5.2025 | $0.270 |
| 5.3.2025 | $0.270 |
How is Fair Value calculated? →
Current Price
$96.51
Estimated Fair Value (DCF)
$47.53
Model estimate — not a price target. Highly sensitive to growth/discount-rate assumptions.
Gap
-50.8%
🔴 Appears expensive relative to estimated value
Year 1 Growth Rate
7.2%
Discount Rate (WACC)
9.0%
Terminal Growth Rate
2.5%
Projection Years
5
| Year | Growth Rate | Projected FCF | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7.2% | $166.30M | $152.57M |
| 2 | 6.1% | $176.36M | $148.44M |
| 3 | 4.9% | $184.95M | $142.81M |
| 4 | 3.7% | $191.76M | $135.85M |
| 5 | 2.5% | $196.55M | $127.75M |
Base FCF (last actual year)
$155.08M
Terminal Value
$3.10B
Present Value of Terminal Value
$2.01B
Enterprise Value
$2.72B
Net Debt
$414.35M
Equity Value
$2.31B
*The DCF model is an estimate based on assumptions — not a guaranteed forecast. You can change the assumptions to examine different scenarios.
Book Value per Share
$8.99
Tangible Book Value per Share (Tangible NAV)
$3.77
Sentiment based on basic keywords (not AI) — 8 positive, 9 neutral, 3 negative out of the last 20 articles.
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The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated (CAKE) currently has a StockIQ AI score of 45/100, rated "Moderate". The score is a weighted average across up to 7 categories (technical, fundamental, growth, fair value, news, quality, risk), based on real data only.
CAKE currently scores 45/100 (Moderate) across the categories we measure. StockIQ doesn't give buy/sell recommendations — use this as one data point in your own research, not as investment advice.
Per StockIQ's DCF model, CAKE's estimated fair value is $47.53, which is 50.8% below the current price of $96.51. This is one valuation model among several signals in the fair-value category, not a price target.
CAKE's technical score is 29/100, which currently reads as bearish — based on real price/volume signals (moving averages, RSI, MACD, and more), not a prediction of what happens next.
Based on the real signals StockIQ computed: Free cash flow growth: 43.6%; Operating margin is stable or improving over time; Return on equity (ROE): 34.0% — strong.
Based on the real signals StockIQ computed: Estimated fair value: $47.53 vs. price $96.51 (-50.8%); Current ratio: 0.59; Earnings per share (EPS) growth: -4.4%.
Yes — CAKE has a real recorded dividend payment history on StockIQ. See the Dividends section on this page for the actual per-share amounts and dates.
Real transactions by officers and insiders, as reported to the SEC on Form 4 — 0 purchases and 14 sales out of the last 25 filings.
| Name | Transaction Type | Date | Shares | Change | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KRANSDORF JEROME I | Gift | 1.9.2026 | 200 | -200 | — |
| KRANSDORF JEROME I | Gift | 26.8.2026 | 12,950 | -800 | — |
| KRANSDORF JEROME I | Gift | 26.8.2026 | 800 | -800 | — |
| Meyer Janice L. | Open Market Sale | 17.8.2026 | 1,958 | -1,958 | $109.36 |
| Ames Edie A | Open Market Sale | 10.8.2026 | 10,000 | -3,000 | $106.95 |
| Gordon David M | Open Market Sale | 10.8.2026 | 41,959 | -16,866 | $109.98 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 58,825 | +5,826 | $34.91 |
| Gordon David M | Open Market Sale | 10.8.2026 | 26,875 | -15,084 | $110.08 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 52,999 | +11,040 | $40.16 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 0 | -11,040 | $40.16 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 17,478 | -5,826 | $34.91 |
| Ames Edie A | Open Market Sale | 10.8.2026 | 3,000 | -3,000 | $106.95 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 5,826 | -5,826 | $34.91 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 11,040 | -11,040 | $40.16 |
| Gordon David M | Open Market Sale | 10.8.2026 | 15,084 | -15,084 | $110.08 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 5,826 | +5,826 | $34.91 |
| Gordon David M | Open Market Sale | 10.8.2026 | 16,866 | -16,866 | $109.98 |
| Gordon David M | Exercise of Derivative Securities | 10.8.2026 | 11,040 | +11,040 | $40.16 |
| OVERTON DAVID | Open Market Sale | 5.8.2026 | 94,145 | -94,145 | $106.27 |
| OVERTON DAVID | Open Market Sale | 5.8.2026 | 89,805 | -94,145 | $106.27 |
| CAPPELLO ALEXANDER L | Open Market Sale | 4.8.2026 | 64 | -64 | $106.08 |
| CAPPELLO ALEXANDER L | Open Market Sale | 4.8.2026 | 3,853 | -64 | $106.08 |
| CAPPELLO ALEXANDER L | Open Market Sale | 3.8.2026 | 59 | -59 | $104.20 |
| CAPPELLO ALEXANDER L | Open Market Sale | 3.8.2026 | 3,917 | -59 | $104.20 |
| May Scarlett | Open Market Sale | 31.7.2026 | 7,978 | -7,978 | $102.66 |
Official FINRA data — the number of shares open in short positions, plus daily short-sale activity.
9,444,495 shares short as of 2026-08-31 · vs. 9,542,274 on 2026-07-31
Official biweekly report (FINRA Rule 4560) — no real higher-frequency data exists for this metric.
57.9% of trading volume this week was short selling, vs. 56.2% the prior week
Based on daily short-sale volume (Reg SHO) — a different metric from the open short interest above: this is daily trading volume, not an open position, so it updates weekly rather than biweekly.
Full breakdown of every data type and its source: Data Sources · Methodology