According to Wells Fargo, Chipotle is a pandemic winner with long-term growth that investors may not be fully valuing. Analyst Zachary Fedem began coverage of the fast casual restaurant stock as overweight. His price target of $1,800 represents an upside of 12.7% from where the stock closed on Monday. Fadem said the Mexican food chain has “best-in-class unit economics with an upside.” He also said it has a bunch of long-term growth levers, from its “Chipotlane” drive-thru to its loyalty program. “CMG offers multiple LT ways to win, and with sentiment seemingly weak, we see an attractive entry point,” the analyst said in a note to clients on Monday. Fadem also pointed to the fact that Chipotle should be able to accelerate shareholder returns through buybacks in the coming years. The company should see strong comparable sales and EBIT margin improvement going forward, he added. Chipotle remains an entity growth story, he said, because it has room to expand into both domestic and international markets and its untapped scale of operating structure and balance sheet going forward. In the meantime, he said should the cost be normal, operations would continue as normal. Fadem also noted Chipotle benefits from pricing power in the restaurant industry and considers it a clear “post-pandemic winner” as it parlays the broader space. Chipotle is unique among restaurants with a relatively more mixed and higher small interest, he said. And he added that pricing elasticity concerns the price discount of about 30% compared to historical instruments. Fadem also noted that the price-to-earnings ratio is about 30% off historical levels, which he called “overblown” regarding long-term growth and traffic fears. Among restaurant stocks, he said Chipotle is one that traded closer to the “trough” level. The stock slightly underperformed the broader market in 2022, falling 20.6% on the year. That drop also snapped a four-year winning streak for the fast-casual chain. Fadem is also bullish on Yum Brands and Starbucks, both of which started out as overweight. On the other hand, he gave McDonald’s, Darden Restaurants, Domino’s and Restaurant Brands International all similar weight ratings. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.