Chipotle Stock Brushes Off Post-Earnings Bear Notes

The shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) are up 6.2% at $1,551.04 this morning, after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings of $5.58 per share on $1.96 billion in revenue, with the former number beating Wall Street's estimates, and the latter meeting expectations. The company added, however, that headwinds from the omicron variant are expected to slow same-store sales growth in the next quarter, and that it's combating this slowdown by raising menu prices. 

Today's pop has CMG climbing back atop recent pressure at the $1,520 level, which sits near the 30-day moving average. This trendline has been pressuring shares lower since September. Should these gains hold, the security would register its first close north of it this year. While Chipotle Mexican Grill stock is on the up-and-up, it has a ways to go -- down 11.1% year-to-date. 

There's been a negative reaction among brokerages following CMG's report. No less than six analysts cut their price targets, including Guggenheim to $1,650 from $1.750. The 12-month consensus price target sits at $1,939.26 -- a 24.4% premium to current levels. Meanwhile, 16 of the 22 analysts in coverage call the stock a "buy" or better, while six say "hold." 

Options traders, on the other hand, were extremely bullish ahead of Chipotle's report, and this optimism is reflected in today's trading. CMG has seen 9,000calls and 7,133 puts exchanged hands, which is nine times the intraday average. Most popular is the 2/11 2,000-strike call, followed by the 1,800-strike call in that weekly series, with positions being opened at the latter.