Plenty of red on the screen yesterday and today.

CPKI’s slashing of guidance continues to impact the restaurant space.  Accordingly, casual dining declined the most yesterday, with the average decline among casual dining stocks that I follow being 3.3%. 

Here are a few notable points that emerged in the past 24 hours:

EAT

  • Brinker has entered into a new $400 million senior credit facility consisting of a $200 million revolver and a $200 million term loan.   The liquidity afforded by the unfunded revolver plus $160 million in proceeds from the sale of On the Border amounts to $360 million (or 23% of the market cap), making the company a natural buyer of the stock.  This is consistent with the plan outlined by the company during their analyst day in March.

CKE:

  • Strong sales for period 5 from Hardee’s.

THI:

  • Tim Horton’s is looking to capture more market share in the United States with a revamp of its concept, including a redesigned bakery-café look as well as upscale menu offerings like baked goods and espresso-based drinks

YUM:

  • Presentation yesterday disclosed that it expects profits in India to hit $100 million by 2015.
  • Taco Bell opening in UK .

SONC:

  • Reported disappointing numbers after the close on Monday and that was reflected in yesterday's decline.

MCD:

  • Possibly facing lawsuits over toys, could drag out bad publicity.

BKC:

  • Introduced new chicken sandwich on premium whole grain bun.
  • “Nutritionally improved”.

WEN

  • Arby's has appointed restaurant industry veteran Warren Chang to a new position to improve customer experience

PEET

  • Tom Cawley sells 5,698 shares of PEET on 06/22/2010 at an average price of $41.95 a share

SBUX:

  • As of July 1st Starbucks will make Wi-Fi access available for free at more than 6700 Starbucks coffee shops.

LNY:

  • Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Tuesday that certain of its ratings on Landry's Restaurants Inc. remain on "CreditWatch" with negative implications after the company's CEO raised his offer to take the company private.

MSSR:

  • The prospect of pronounced seafood cost inflation is part of McCormick & Schmick's issues and the stock underperformed yesterday.  This seafood cost impact is being felt again today by KONA, DRI, RT and MSSR which are all trading down this morning.

TALES OF THE TAPE - stocks 623

Howard Penney

Managing Director