As the U.S. stock market is experiencing severe volatility, this American chain restaurant focusing on "AI + kitchen" is expected to become a "safe haven".

Recent news from the Wall Street financial giant Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (Jefferies) revealed that the institution has upgraded its stock rating for the American fast-casual dining chain Wingstop (WING.US) from "hold" to "buy," the most bullish rating level. They also maintained a target price of $270, indicating a potential upside of 22% in the next 12 months. As the US stock market experiences intense volatility due to Trump's aggressive tariff policies, and the S&P 500 index may enter a long-term bear market, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. released a bullish report on the chain dining giant Wingstop. Focused on their "AI + kitchen" strategy to significantly improve operational efficiency and profits, the US chain dining enterprise Wingstop is expected to demonstrate a "safe haven" attribute, potentially becoming a stock market "safe harbor" under the pessimistic scenario of intense market volatility and long-term bear market. It is well known that AI is developing and penetrating into human society at an unprecedented speed, now even able to accurately identify human emotions. A Spanish startup company, Neurologyca, claims that their Kopernica AI system can accurately interpret human emotions, detecting various neurological diseases and identifying people's emotional states. Furthermore, with China's AI leader DeepSeek leading a "low-cost computing power new paradigm" globally, AI training and inferencing costs are decreasing, sparking an "efficiency revolution" in AI training and inference. This is driving the development of large AI models towards focusing comprehensively on "low-cost" and "high-performance," as well as accelerating the penetration of AI application software (especially generative AI software and AI agents) into various industries worldwide, with the potential to completely revolutionize efficiency and significantly increase sales in global enterprise scenarios. At the same time, CIBR and NeuCyber NeuroTech announced on March 31 their plans to complete 13 brain-machine interface chip implants before the end of the year, suggesting that their patient data gathering may surpass Neuralink, a brain-machine interface leader founded by Musk. As concerns about AI misuse continue to escalate, tech companies focusing on artificial intelligence are increasingly prioritizing responsible framework development. On March 31, Anthropic, known as a rival to OpenAI, announced an update to its AI "Responsible Expansion" policy, determining the need for additional security features based on defining model security levels. For instance, if a large AI model in regulatory tests might assist in the development of biochemical weapons in "medium-resource countries," Anthropic will implement new security measures before launching the technology. It was also disclosed that after completing a funding round in March, Anthropic's valuation reached as high as $61.5 billion, still far below OpenAI's $300 billion valuation obtained through a $40 billion investment led by SoftBank. Reports suggest that SoftBank Group, led by Masayoshi Son, is seeking a loan of up to $16.5 billion for AI investments in the United States, which would be the largest USD-denominated loan for SoftBank. Sources reveal that the bridge loan has a term of 12 months, and negotiations with banks are still in the early stages, with terms subject to adjustments during negotiations. Wingstop is actively testing an AI-driven kitchen system, and Jefferies Financial Group Inc., a prominent Wall Street firm, has released a bullish report on the company. It is worth noting that Wingstop is considered a high-conviction stock among hedge funds, as research shows that mimicking top hedge funds' stock selection strategies can significantly outperform the market. For Wingstop Inc., the latest holdings statistics as of the fourth quarter of 2024 indicate that the stock is held by as many as 36 hedge funds. Wingstop is an American casual dining chain that specializes in made-to-order seasoned chicken wings, operating on a global franchise model. The company is currently conducting extensive testing of an AI-based kitchen operational platform to improve service efficiency, streamline employee workflows, and potentially increase operating profits significantly. Analyst Andy Barish from Jefferies Financial Group Inc. recently upgraded Wingstop's stock rating from "hold" to "buy," while maintaining a target price of $270. As of Tuesday's closing on the US stock market, Wingstop's stock price closed at $221.71. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analyst Barish noted that the current stock price is in oversold territory, and the valuation "significantly discounts" the company's above-average single-store sales growth and adjusted EBITDA growth. The investment bank believes that the stock market has already factored in expectations of a slowdown in same-store sales in the US market under the heavy pressure of Trump's tariffs but has overlooked its traffic advantage and low double-digit single-store sales growth. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. also emphasized that overall visibility of same-store sales is improving, and the new profit expansion DRIVE through features like the kitchen AI system may lead to better-than-expected performance in 2025 and beyond. Wingstop is a US quick-service casual dining chain focused on seasoned chicken wings, founded in 1994 and headquartered in Garland, Texas. It offers a variety of products including classic wings, boneless wings, chicken tenders, and chicken sandwiches in dozens of unique flavors for customers to choose from. Wingstop is currently focused on advancing its cutting-edge "AI + kitchen" technology strategy. The company is piloting a fully AI-based kitchen operation platform aimed at accelerating service speed, enhancing customer ordering efficiency experiences, and greatly simplifying kitchen operations.Employee work process. As of February 2025, Wingstop has 30 restaurants participating in the trial of the AI kitchen platform, some of which have been ongoing for over a year, with plans to further expand to more physical stores in 2025.Wingstop CEO Michael Skipworth stated that the new kitchen operation platform based on "AI + Kitchen" will significantly reduce order preparation time, meeting customers' expectations for fast service. In addition, the platform uses visual cues and gamification elements to enhance employee engagement, and is expected to increase employee productivity.