The most important meal of the day.
THE HEDGEYE BREAKFAST MONITOR
MACRO NOTES
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined to 39.8 versus expectations of 46. The print is the lowest since March ’09.
US MBA Mortgage purchase applications index gained +6.4% for the week ended October 21stwhile the total market index gained +4.9%. These numbers compare to (8.8%) and (14.9%), respectively, during the week prior.
SUBSECTOR PERFORMANCE
QUICK SERVICE
PNRA: Panera Bread reported strong 3Q results last night. See our post from earlier this morning for details.
YUM: Yum! Brands’ acquisition target Little Sheep Group Ltd. dropped by the most in more than a year in Hong Kong trading after saying China’s Ministry of Commerce extended by 60 calendar days the review period of Yum! Brands Inc.’s proposal to buy the company, according to Bloomberg.
CASUAL DINING
EAT: Brinker reported 1QFY12 earnings this morning. EPS came in at $0.30 versus $0.27 consensus. Comps at Chili’s missed, coming in at +1.7% versus the Street at 2.1%. Blended comps came in at 2% versus consensus at 2.4%. Restaurant operating margins, despite transaction growth at Chili’s exceeding the comp, came in 170 basis points ahead of expectations.
RUTH: Ruth’s Hospitality Group reported $0.00 in EPS for the third quarter. Comps for Ruth’s Chris Steak House came in at 2.6% while Mitchell’s Fish Market saw a decrease of -0.7%. Margins were negatively impacted by 120 basis point related to food and beverage costs. Beef price inflation was the main driver, in addition to higher prices for dairy, oil and grain-based products.
KONA: Kona Grill reported a strong quarter, beating the Street’s expected EPS of 5c with a result of 6c. However, the company, but lowered guided to EPS between -$0.01 to +$0.02. Marcus Jundt is returning to Kona Grill, having been appointed to the company’s board as former CAKE executive Michael Nahkunst was named CEO.
PFCB: According to thedeal.com, P.F. Chang’s is seeing interest from PE firms. Per The Deal, Golden Gate Capital may be one potential bidder.
Howard Penney
Managing Director
Rory Green
Analyst
