Brinker International's (NYSE:EAT) Comp Will Continue to Underperform

In the short term there is little to suggest the comp underperformance of Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) will change, after Barclays (NYSE:BCS) confirmed after meeting with Brinker management the same thing.

They said, "We spent two days on the road with EAT management. The message was clear: comp underperformance will likely prevail near-term on difficult promotional compares, though expecting to close the gap as we move into 2HF11 on the easing of such compares, new lunch platform and product news. Importantly, management has increasing comfort and visibility on guidance for - 500bp of margin improvement by F13, which along with aggressive share repurchase, should support near-term earnings growth. We continue to view Brinker as a solid play on an improving macro, with comp underperformance to ease, cost savings significant, and an attractive relative valuation."

Barclays maintains an "Overweight" on Brinker International, which closed Tuesday at $21.20, up $0.12, or 0.57 percent. Brinker has a price target on them of $23 by Barclays.