Investment Ideas
The table below lists our Investment Ideas as well as our Watch List -- a list of potential ideas that we are in the process of evaluating. We intend to update this table regularly and will provide detail on any material changes.
Recent Notes
07/28/14 Monday Mashup: MCD, YUM and More
07/28/14 MCD: McLibel 2.0?
07/29/14 DRI: Light Gets In
07/31/14 YUM: Warning Shots Fired
08/04/14 Monday Mashup: Full Slate of Earnings
08/04/14 Invite: New Best Idea
Events This Week
Wednesday, August 13th
- NDLS earnings call 4:30pm EST
- FRSH earnings call 5:00pm EST
Thursday, August 14th
- RRGB earnings call 10:00am EST
Chart of the Day
Got pricing power? Chipotle does. Traffic growth has more than doubled price growth over the past 5 years.
Recent News Flow
Monday, August 4th
- DPZ upgraded to buy at Miller Tabak with an $81 PT.
- JACK announced Sharon John will join the company's board of directors. John has over 25 years of retail marketing, branding and executive management experience in both the public and private sectors.
- MCD noted that China, Japan and certain other markets have been severely impacted following food safety issues.
- PNRA CFO Roger Matthews resigned. William Moreton, Panera's current Executive Vice Chairman, will serve as Interim CFO until a successor is found.
- PLKI announced the resignation of the company's U.S. President, Ralph Bower.
Tuesday, August 5th
- CAKE announced its newest restaurant opening in Trumbull, CT at the Westfield Trumbull Mall.
Wednesday, August 6th
- FRGI announced it will consolidate all of its food distribution with Performance Food Group.
- THI declared a $0.32 dividend payable to shareholders of record as of August 18th, 2014.
- BOBE released an investor presentation to provide their take on a series of "misleading" statements made by Sandell Asset Management.
- JACK debuted three new breakfast items, featuring two new breakfast burritos and croissant donuts.
Thursday, August 7th
- THI was upgraded to outperform at BMO Capital.
- SONC announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 as well as a $105 million share repurchase program for FY15.
Friday, August 8th
- DRI Activist Starboard Value increased its stake in Darden from 8.0% to 8.8%.
- CMG was downgraded to neutral at Longbow Research.
Sector Performance
The XLY (+1.1%) outperformed the SPX (+0.3%). On average, casual dining stocks (-0.1%) underperformed and quick service stocks (+1.6%) outperformed the XLY Index.
XLY Quantitative Setup
From a quantitative perspective, the sector turned bearish on an intermediate-term TREND duration.
Casual Dining Restaurants
Quick Service Restaurants
Howard Penney
Managing Director
Fred Masotta
Analyst
