The Hedgeye Restaurants Team, led by Howard Penney, added Panera Bread Company (PNRA) as a short to Hedgeye's Best Ideas List on Friday, April 5th. We will be hosting a brief conference call on Wednesday, April 10th at 1:00pm entitled, "Competition Heats Up. Is it Time to Short PNRA?" to outline the key issues facing PNRA.
CALL OBJECTIVE
Gain an understanding of what has changed in the restaurant industry as well as for PNRA specifically that makes PNRA an attractive short case.
CALL OVERVIEW
PNRA's position as a healthy QSR option that is relatively free of competitors is gradually changing. An increased number of casual dining chains are now offering lower price points and other QSR chains are upgrading their menus to include items that are cheaper than PNRA's core offerings but are marketed competitively as healthy eating options.
As a consequence:
This secular trend is manifesting itself in the components of comparable sales growth as PNRA traffic trends have shown recent weakness
We believe that the Street is overly optimistic about a recovery in SSS for 2H113
With limited upside to EPS the case for a multiple expansion seems unlikely from current levels
CALL DETAILS
- Toll Free Number:
- Direct Dial Number:
- Conference Code: 997891#
- Materials: CLICK HERE
Howard Penney
Managing Director
Rory Green
Senior Analyst