Potbelly upgraded to Buy from Hold at Benchmark

Benchmark analyst Todd Brooks upgraded Potbelly to Buy from Hold with a $15 price target. After spending time with management and given the company’s “strong” Q4 same-store-sales results and franchisee pipeline growth preannounced, the firm acknowledges that its key concerns have been eliminated. Potbelly is rapidly progressing on a path that includes an improving margin model while rapidly transforming to become a highly franchised operator, the analyst tells investors in a research note.