The rejection of the Vintage's $40 per share takeover bid returns Red Robin Gourmet Burgers to a "trust me" story, Stephens analyst Will Slabaugh tells investors in a research note. The analyst, who keeps an Overweight rating on the shares with a $36 price target, would have preferred to see Red Robin at least explore alternatives for the business versus the outright rejection of Vintage's bid. On the new CEO announcement, the analyst likes Paul Murphy's turnaround and branding experience, but he believes improving the company's same-store-sales trajectory could take time. Nonetheless, Slabaugh continues to believe Red Robin's underlying free cash flow is undervalued, though he admits investors likely won't care until the company can prove its initiatives are producing meaningful improvement in both traffic and same-store-sales growth. .