Like William Wallace in the movie Braveheart, CKR is trying to break out of the oppressive U.S. restaurant environment. At 6.4x NTM EV/EBITDA, the stock is a relative bargain. Its core brands continue to post same-store sales in line with or better than other QSR operators. The river card for CKR will be the company’s ability to overcome significant food inflation when its reports EPS on Sept 18th. With short term commodity trends looking favorable, compared to a disastrous fiscal 2008, the earnings and forward-looking commentary should be positive.
