Longbow analyst Alton Stump said his conversations with U.S. Wendy's franchisees leads him to believe that the sharp negative reaction by investors to the company's breakfast announcement was unwarranted. His contacts expressed "an admittedly surprisingly positive view" of plans to re-launch breakfast nationwide in 2020, pointing to a simpler menu, lower food cost as a percentage of sales, expectations for only a modestly higher labor spend and a nationwide rollout as key reasons for their optimism, said Stump. He also noted that his checks make him believe domestic franchised same-store sales were up 3-3.5% in Q3 to date, which is tracking ahead of his and consensus estimates. Stump has a Buy rating and $25 price target on Wendy's shares.