EAT posts
FeedPosted Sep 27th 2009 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Darden Restaurants (DRI), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), Economic data
Autumn has arrived and the quarter winds down this week. The Dow has been inching toward 10,000 for a while now, though it closed lower in the past three sessions. Can it make it to 10,000 for the start of the third quarter? If so, what will push it higher? If not, what will drag it down further?
Continue reading The week in preview: Is the rally over?
Posted Jun 21st 2009 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Walgreen Co (WAG), Darden Restaurants (DRI), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), KB HOME (KBH), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Economic data
Continue reading The week in preview: End-of-quarter earnings expectations: Nike, Oracle, Walgreen ...
Posted Jun 10th 2009 10:40AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Brinker Intl (EAT), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Small business
On Tuesday, Norman Brinker, pioneer in the restaurant business,
died at the age of 78.
Norman Brinker started Steak & Ale with about $10,000 in savings and a $5,000 loan. Over a decade, he grew Steak & Ale to 109 locations. During the 1960s, Brinker developed the salad bar, which he showcased at his Steak & Ale chain. He then sold the company to Pillsbury in 1976.
However, Brinker didn't stop innovating. At Pillsbury, he formed a new concept: Bennigan's. After this, he ran
Burger King (NYSE:
BKC).
Continue reading Super entrepreneur, Norman Brinker, dies
Posted May 18th 2009 10:30AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Brinker Intl (EAT), Allegheny Energy (AYE), AutoNation Inc (AN), Dean Foods (DF), Morgan Stanley (MS), Under Armour'A' (UA), Analyst initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- Citigroup upgraded Lennar (NYSE: LEN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's near-term liquidity profile is improved following the $400M debt issuance. The firm raised its target price to $12 from $11.
- Jefferies upgraded Rowan Companies (NYSE: RDC) to Buy from Hold as it believes jack-up drillers will continue to outperform deepwater names. The firm raised its target price to $27 from $20.
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded First Financial (NASDAQ: FFIN) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect more positive loan data for the Texas banks. The firm raised its target price on shares to $44 from $38.
- MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
- Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: LEN, RDC, FFIN, SII, AN, ACHN, UA, LULU, JST
Posted May 15th 2009 10:10AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market matters, McDonald's (MCD), Brinker Intl (EAT), Domino's Pizza (DPZ), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Yum Brands (YUM), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Calif Pizza Kitchen (CPKI), Stocks to Buy, Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says Panera is one company that has plenty of room for expansion. If the restaurant stocks are stabilizing after a real downturn that has lasted for several weeks, this group -- a leadership group from the fall when gasoline fell in price -- is going to have a wicked move back.
I like
Yum! Brands (NYSE:
YUM) (
Cramer's Take), which never broke down. This is one in which technicians signaled weakness, with Top Gun Rick Bensignor and I going head to head on "Mad Money." He was right that it initially would downtick, but I think it is bottoming along with
McDonald's (NYSE:
MCD) (
Cramer's Take). It's got the growth and it has good tumbling raw costs. The dollar's going the way for both stocks.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Restaurants right for the taking
Posted May 1st 2009 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, McDonald's (MCD), Research in Motion (RIMM), Analyst initiations, Urban Outfitters (URBN)
Analyst upgrades:
- Citigroup upgraded Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) to Hold from Sell on easing credit and liquidity concerns following the company's guidance. The firm raised its target on the stock to $7.50 from $4.
- UBS upgraded Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) to Buy from Neutral and raised their target to $90 from $65 as they expect pent-up replacement demand in enterprise to drive 2010 estimates higher and for the consumer smartphone opportunity to grow in 2009 and 2010.
- Goldman upgraded Suncor (NYSE: SU) to Conviction Buy from Sell and raised their target to $33 from $25 citing their bullish view on crude oil for 2H09 and 2010 and in the company's ability to lower operating and capital costs in the oil sands region.
- Canadian National (CNI) was raised to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
- Applied Micro Circuits (NASDAQ: AMCC) was lifted at Oppenheimer to Overweight from Neutral.
- QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: RIMM, MCD, ORLY, CELG, URBN ...
Posted Apr 20th 2009 10:30AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: PepsiCo (PEP), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Walgreen Co (WAG), Citigroup Inc. (C), Target Corp. (TGT), Brinker Intl (EAT), Penney (J.C.) (JCP), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), American Express (AXP), AutoNation Inc (AN), AutoZone Inc (AZO), Centex Corp (CTX), Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), Kellogg Co (K), Hershey Co (HSY), Sears Holdings (SHLD), CVS Corp (CVS), Gap Inc (GPS), General Mills (GIS), Procter and Gamble (PG), Yum Brands (YUM), Kohl's Corp (KSS), Johnson Controls (JCI), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Nordstrom, Inc (JWN), Unilever ADR (UL), Jones Apparel Group (JNY), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Recession, E*TRADE (ETFC)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer is seeing signs of a coming boom, but he's still being cautious here. If you had to define the early cycle, if you had to outline what stocks should be soaring coming out of a recession into a boom and which ones should be faltering, you would have to say the action in this market in the last month is the quintessential behavioral pattern.
What are the components of the early cycle? First, it's the homebuilders. As is typical coming out of a recession, the stocks precede the bottom of housing. That's exactly what's happening with the lowest permits and highest affordability and best mortgage rates and massive inventory. Everywhere, except on Wall Street reporting, the bottom is bursting out. When you read the lead story in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer, and it is all about the thousands of prospective homebuyers heading south to pick up condos and homes for half of what they were worth two years ago -- or even less -- and you know that virtually no one has broken ground in the Sunshine State in a year, you can bet that the bottom's actually behind us. This housing market has wiped out all but the most stable private builders and even the public ones are merging as we know from
Pulte (NYSE:
PHM) (
Cramer's Take) and
Centex (NYSE:
CTX) (
Cramer's Take). So, in the next cycle, you can see some profitability developing year over year even though the new homes don't have much margin because the foreclosed homes next door are going for a song. And don't believe this won't change the dynamic of future foreclosures. In most areas, rent is higher than the interest on mortgages, so you will find that second or third job needed to stay in your home. The incentive structure's radically different than a year ago.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: The seductive pull of the early cycle
Posted Apr 11th 2009 11:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Brinker Intl (EAT), Alcoa Inc (AA), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Family Dollar Stores (FDO), Research in Motion (RIMM), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Family Dollar, Bed Bath & Beyond, Alcoa, Wells Fargo and more
Posted Apr 7th 2009 12:30PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Good news, Brinker Intl (EAT), Options, Technical Analysis
Brinker International (NYSE:
EAT -
option chain) shares are headed higher today after the company
forecast third-quarter earnings of 44 to 45 cents per share, well above analysts' estimates of 29 cents per share. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on EAT.
EAT opened this morning at $18.14. So far today the stock has hit a low of $16.93 and a high of $18.20. As of 11:25, EAT is trading at $17.20, up 0.95 (5.8%). The chart for EAT looks bearish and
S&P gives EAT a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.
Continue reading Brinker International (EAT) forecasts strong Q3 earnings
Posted Apr 7th 2009 10:50AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Microsoft (MSFT), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Nokia Corp. (NOK), American Express (AXP), Automatic Data Proc (ADP), Analyst initiations, Symantec Corp (SYMC)
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Analyst upgrades:
- RBC Capital believes software stock fundamentals have bottomed and that the next several quarters should see reduced earnings risk, easier comps, stimulus spending benefits, and lower FX headwinds. The firm upgraded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Taleo (NASDAQ: TLEO), Digital River (NASDAQ: DRIV) and Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) to Outperform from Sector Perform.
- Rodman & Renshaw upgraded Provectus (OTC: PVCT) to Outperform from Market Perform. The firm has increased conviction in the success of the company's ongoing trial of PV-10 in melanoma.
- Citigroup upgraded shares of American Express (NYSE: AXP) to Hold from Sell as it believes the risk/reward is balanced at current levels and that there are signs of potential credit market stabilization. The firm raised its price target on shares to $16 from $9.
- Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
- PG&E (NYSE: PCG) was raised to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
- Federal-Mogul (NASDAQ: FDML) was lifted to Conviction Buy from Buy at Goldman.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MSFT, AXP, RBS, FIATY, NFLX ...
Posted Dec 19th 2008 11:35AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, eBay (EBAY), Amazon.com (AMZN), Expedia Inc (EXPE), FedEx Corp (FDX), Analyst initiations
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Analyst upgrades:
- Jefferies upgraded shares of Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS) to Overweight from Neutral on valuation, as they believe the current share price undervalues Risperdal Consta and provides little to no value for other pipeline drugs.
- JP Morgan upgraded ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) to Buy from Hold following the company's Q1 results, as they believe further estimate reductions are unlikely.
- UBS expects ITT Educational (NYSE: ESI) to benefit from strong enrollment growth and they see less private student lending risk. Shares were upgraded to Buy from Neutral.
- BMC Software (NYSE: BMC) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman and added to the firm's Conviction Buy List.
- Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
- Covance (NYSE: CVD) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at First Analysis.
Analyst downgrades:
- UBS downgraded Anglo American (NASDAQ: AAUK) to Neutral from Buy and added shares to its Short-term Sell list citing the significant reduction in 2009 coal prices and estimates.
- Friedman Billings cut Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $8 from $18 shares to reflect a lowered aluminum price forecast and financing concerns.
- Bernstein downgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Market Perform from Outperform citing recent share performances and the difficult macro environment.
- CommVault (NASDAQ: CVLT) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman and added to the Conviction Buy List.
- TomoTherapy (NASDAQ: TOMO) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair.
- Boston Properties (NYSE: BXP) was lowered to Neutral from Buy at UBS.
Analyst initiations:
- Morgan Keegan initiated Brinker (NYSE: EAT) with a Market Perform citing the difficult macro economy, relative debt levels and the competitive environment.
- Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) was initiated at Oppenheimer with an Outperform rating and $12 target. The firm expects the company to benefit from growing demand for higher acuity assisted living.
- Baird initiated Healthcare Realty (NYSE: HR) with an Underperform rating and $19 target citing the company's premium valuation vs. the group.
- UBS initiated Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN), and Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW) with Neutral ratings citing the difficult near-term demand environment.
- FedEx (NYSE: FDX) was started at Jesup & Lamont with a Hold rating.
Posted Dec 10th 2008 6:35PM by Sarah Gilbert (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Starbucks (SBUX), Employees, Brinker Intl (EAT), Recession
Among all the layoffs at tech companies and banks, layoffs at restaurants are barely a plink-plink-plink dropping in the unemployment bucket. Restaurant employees, after all, often work more than one job and variable hours, and turnover is extremely high. It's not one of those made-for-Hollywood scenes when restaurants lay off employees (with the conference room filled with HR consultants and stacks of separation agreements); the picture looks more like gradual reduction in hours until one day you're just not on the schedule. Or, one cocktail waitress at this location, a hostess at the other location, handing in their aprons and their time cards. Perhaps it's just that applicants for empty jobs never get a call back, no matter how awesome their experience.
The
Wall Street Journal today evaluates a report that
jobs at food service establishments have decreased for five months in a row, and says waiters and waitresses are earning less in tips. Once-darlings of Wall Street,
Brinker International (NYSE:
EAT)'s Chili's and
Starbucks (NASDAQ:
SBUX) have seen many outlets close. To blame: it's the economy, naturally, with patrons eating out less, downscaling to fast food for family nights out, ordering less expensive food, and reducing tips from 20%-plus to exactly 15%. Adding insult to injury is the half-of-minimum-wage pay that servers and bartenders are paid in many states: it's been $2.13 an hour since I graduated high school (I can still remember the ignomy when my $21 weekly paycheck from the little Lexington, Virginia pub where I worked in college bounced -- that's how you know your employer is struggling!).
These aren't good times to work in the restaurant industry, or invest in anything but the bare-bones-est of eating establishments.
Continue reading Bad time to be a waitress, or a Brinker investor
Posted Aug 25th 2008 1:25PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Analyst reports, Bad news, Industry, Brinker Intl (EAT), Options, Technical Analysis
Brinker International (NYSE:
EAT -
option chain) shares are headed lower today. Last week,
an analyst expressed concerns about potential weakness in the casual dining sector due to families that may have stayed home to watch Olympic coverage rather than going out for dinner. Today, there is some weakness throughout the sector, on stocks like
Darden (NYSE:
DRI) and
Cheescake Factory (NASDAQ:
CAKE) as well. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on EAT.
This morning, EAT opened at $19.34. So far today the stock has hit a low of $18.87 and a high of $19.41. As of 12:15, EAT is trading at $18.95, down 62 cents (-3.2%). The chart for EAT looks neutral and
S&P gives EAT a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider an
October bear-call credit spread above the $22.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in two months as long as EAT is below $22.50 at October expiration. Brinker would have to rise by more than 18% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade
here.
EAT hasn't been above $22.50 since May and has shown resistance around $21 recently.
Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in EAT, DRI, or CAKE. Posted Aug 19th 2008 10:23AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals
One of my favorite restaurants is Romano's Macaroni Grill, which has a great ambiance and menu. Well, the private equity firm -- Golden Gate Capital – also likes the place. In fact, it has
agreed to pay $131.5 million for a majority stake. The current owner is
Brinker International Inc. (NYSE:
EAT), which is the operator of Chili's Grill & Bar, Maggiano's Little Italy and On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina.
Romano's has 226 locations across the U.S. But while they are high-quality, the fact remains that the current economic environment has had a dampening effect and in the prior quarter same-store sells fell 5.7%. Brinker has actually tried to sell the division for about a year. Interestingly enough, there will also be an impairment charge for $42 million to $47 million on the transaction.
Brinker will keep a 20% position. But the most important thing is that the company will get a nice slug of cash – which is certainly much desired nowadays.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements
. He also operates MergerBook.com.
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This week brings a small flurry of end-of-the-calendar-quarter earnings reports. And for the most part, the expectations of the analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters aren't very high. Companies expected to report declining earnings in the most recently concluded quarter include 
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