Wendy's turnaround remains undercooked, analyst says

It's been a tough year for Wendy's (NYSE: WEN). The company has struggled to grow same-store sales, and then in June, the company garnered a mention on TheStreet.com's weekly list of the "Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street," for "announcing once a month that it's up for sale."

Now, with the stock touching a 52-week low on the year's last day of trading, Lehman Brothers analyst Jeffrey Bernstein is criticizing the company for failing to turn itself around in spite of an economic environment that should be conducive to the industry, and added that the company's earnings and sales targets may be too "aggressive." Bernstein also said that investors are frustrated with the lack of an outcome so far to the company's exploration of strategic alternatives.

Shares of Wendy's have fallen precipitously since the original announcement that the company was exploring a possible sale. Given that a cheaper share price should make the company a less expensive acquisition target, you would think that the offers would be rolling in.

Maybe the company is taking forever to mull its alternatives because there are just so many bids to choose from that it just can't pick one. However, my experience has been that a long period of silence after a big announcement that a company is up for sale is most often indicative of a lack of offers.