Shares
of
Dutch
food
delivery
marketplace
Just
Eat
Takeaway.com
could
more
than
double
over
the
next
12
months,
according
to
Jefferies
analysts.
In
a
June
26
research
report,
the
U.S.
investment
bank
set
a
target
price
of
25.5
euros
($27.62)
on
the
stock
—
giving
it
potential
upside
of
125.9%
from
its
closing
price
of
11.29
euros
on
July
4.
Jefferies
remains
bullish
on
Just
Eat,
even
as
the
company’s
U.S.
business
Grubhub
has
faced
the
pressures
of
government
price
controls
imposed
on
restaurants
since
the
Covid-19
pandemic.
While
price
controls
are
intended
to
“enable
restaurants
to
access
delivery,
marketing
and
other
services
at
artificially
low
prices,”
the
actual
impact
is
“far
different,”
Grubhub
wrote
in
an
Aug
2022
blogpost
.
“Price
controls
create
strict
limits
on
what
local
restaurants
can
do
to
promote
their
business,
find
new
diners,
engage
regular
customers
and
send
more
orders
out
their
doors,”
it
said.
Last
September,
the
U.S.’
Federal
Court,
upheld
the
right
for
GrubHub,
as
well
as
platforms
like
Uber
and
DoorDash
,
to
sue
the
city
of
New
York
over
the
fee
caps,
Jefferies’s
analyst
Giles
Throne
noted
—
adding
that
new
policies
could
come
in
place.
“The
fee
cap
question
has
mired
the
long-signalled
partial
or
full
sale
of
Grubhub;
a
resolution
of
the
issue
should
create
momentum
around
that
potentially
highly
equity
positive
asset
sale,”
he
wrote.
Throne
holds
that
there
are
still
“pockets”
of
high
quality
gross
market
value
within
the
business,
particularly
in
New
York
City,
where
he
assesses
that
the
earnings
before
interest,
taxes,
depreciation
and
amortization
are
being
“mis-priced.”
Just
Eat
expects
a
$100
million
EBITDA
impact
from
the
amending
of
the
fee
caps,
the
Jefferies
note
reported.
This,
Throne
said,
is
“highly
material
to
earnings,”
given
that
the
company’s
adjusted
EBITDA
guidance
for
full-year
2024
is
around
450
million
euros.
TKWY-NL
YTD
mountain
Year-to-date
share
movement
in
Just
Eat
Takeaway
The
spotlight
fell
on
food
delivery
platforms
like
Just
Eat
during
the
height
of
the
Covid-19
pandemic,
when
countries
around
the
world
imposed
social
distancing
restrictions
that
stifled
dining
at
restaurant
venues.
The
easing
of
those
restrictions,
coupled
with
mounting
food
inflation,
has
pushed
some
players
to
exit
markets
they
do
not
dominate.
Just
Eat
has
felt
the
pinch,
with
its
total
orders
dropping
to
214.2
million
in
the
first
quarter,
down
from
227.8
million
in
the
same
period
of
last
year.
Shares
of
the
delivery
firm
have
also
moved
away
from
their
high
during
the
Covid
pandemic,
and
are
now
down
18.1%
year-to-date
and
22.5%
in
the
last
12
months.
Just
Eat
is
listed
on
Euronext
Amsterdam and
the London
Stock
Exchange.
It
also
trades
as
an
American
Depository
Receipt
in
the
U.S.
—
CNBC’s
Michael
Bloom
contributed
to
this
report.
