J.P. Morgan U.S. SMid FTM 14 May 26 Retail Radar; CAKE and More

Research evidence excerpt

J.P. Morgan U.S. SMid FTM 14 May 26 Retail Radar; CAKE and More

North America Equity Research

U.S. SMID First to Market 14 May 2026

Top Stories

Retail Radar (Arun Jain/Shizuka Suga, CFA/Bhupinder Singh/Dubravko Lakos-Bujas)

May 13 - Software vs Semis Positioning

As we will be hosting our flagship NY Quantitative & AI Conference on May 19-20, there will be no edition of the Retail Radar

next week . If you are attending, we look forward to seeing you there in person.

| The Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (John Ivankoe) (CAKE, N, PT $68.00)

Steady Execution Amid Macro Headwinds – Experiences Matter. Better Risk/Reward Elsewhere but

Move to Neutral

1Q26/April comments highlight the importance of experience-oriented dining even if absolute price points can trend

high. SSS of +1.6% at the Cheesecake Factory (vs our +2.0%) came with a weak SSS of -2% North Italia (vs our -1%) but very

strong +10% at Flower Child (vs our +5.0%). Overall, CAKE’s brands continue to benefit from industry-low employee turnover

and lower than industry average supply growth in casual dining.

Mentions

MARA Holdings Inc (Richard Choe) (MARA, OW, PT $13.00)

Strategic Partnership Highlighted with Potential Economics of First 200 MW Site; BTC Revenue Falls

~18% y/y in 1Q26

US Auto Suppliers (Rajat Gupta)

1Q26 Wrap: Strong Ops/GoM Execution + FX Benefit, Though Choppy Macro Tempers Flow-

Through; 2H GoM Execution Key to Further Re-rating; Prefer Content and Diversification Themes

| Compass Minerals International, Inc. (Jeffrey J. Zekauskas) (CMP, N, PT $30.00)

We Raise Our Rating from Underweight to Neutral

Global Power Equipment (Mark Strouse, CFA/Michael G Fairbanks/Phil Buller/Tami Zakaria, CFA)