In a difficult economic environment, it is often wise for investors to consider stocks in more defensive and relatively recession-resistant sectors. And one such area is food and beverage stocks.

As the long-standing market maxim goes, consumers can pull back on spending for vacations, remodeling, and new cars, but they still need to eat and drink.

In that light, I turned to nine leading newsletter advisors who serve up their current favorite ideas in the food and beverage sector:

Continue reading Food for thought: Best buys in food & beverage

Food for thought: Best buys in food & beverage originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA), an owner and franchisor of 1,115 bakery-cafes, is recently up $2.28 to $45.40.

• PNRA reported that third quarter revenue increased 35% to $276 million compared to the year ago period.
  
• Bear Stearns says: "Sales in line; guidance narrowed up versus consensus."
  
• PNRA overall option implied volatility of 37 is above its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting slightly larger price risks.

JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), a global financial holding company, closed at $46.78.

• Bloomberg reported: "China may prevent foreign investors from taking control of domestic brokerages, a setback to Wall Street's ambitions to tap the world's fastest-growing stock market, people familiar with the planned rules said."
• JPM is expected to report EPS on 10/17.
  
• JPM October option implied volatility of 30 is above its 26-week average of 26 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update: Adjusting positions in Panera Bread (PNRA) and JP Morgan (JPM) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Panera Bread Company: A temporary rut

Panera Bread Company: A temporary rut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Deutsche Bank initiated shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) and Yum! Brands Inc (NYSE: YUM) with Buy ratings and a $61 target and $76 target, respectively, and shares of Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG) with Hold ratings an a $54 target and $83 target, respectively.
• Wachovia initiated shares of CB Richard Ellis with an Outperform rating, as it views CBG as a compelling investment opportunity giving its leading position in the top real estate markets and breadth of services.
• Wachovia also initiated shares of Jones Lang LaSalle with an Outperform rating, as it expects JLL to benefit from international services given the increasing flow of real estate dollars across boarders and to less well developed regions of the globe.

• Citigroup initiated shares of GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) with a Buy rating and $46 target.
• Citigroup also initiated shares of The PNC Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE: PNC) with a Buy rating and $84 target.
• Soleil initiated shares of Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) with a Buy rating and $50 target.
• Goldman Sachs initiated shares of 3M Company (NYSE: MMM) and LM Ericsson Telephone Company (NASDAQ: ERIC) with Neutral ratings.

Analyst initiations 6-08-07: Restaurants, CBG and JLL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Jun 2007 10:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Many years ago, when I was in law school, I had to read lots of boring legal cases. From time to time, though, there would be a crazy case to liven things up.

Well, we got one recently. Panera Bread (NASDAQ:PNRA), which is a large bakery-cafe chain, sued Qdoba Mexican Grill, which is owned by Jack in the Box (NYSE:JBX). Qdoba wanted to move into a mall in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The mall already had a Panera, and Panera's lawyers had cleverly negotiated an important clause in its lease agreement: the mall was prohibited from renting to another sandwich shop.

The ruling? The judge dismissed Panera's claim. His analysis was that, technically speaking, a burrito is not a sandwich. Simply put, a burrito involves only one tortilla, whereas a sandwich has two slices of bread.

Yes, it looks like he's on solid ground. Of course, Panera's attorneys disagree and will appeal.

It's enough to make me wish I were back in law school.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

Landmark case: A sandwich is not a burrito originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Specific restaurants and Autodesk (ADSK) top today's list of initiations.

• Robert W. Baird initiated coverage of Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ:SBUX), Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ:PNRA), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) and Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) with Outperform ratings and P. F. Chang's China Bistro Inc (NASDAQ:PFCB) and Rare Hospitality International, Inc. (NASDAQ:RARE) with Neutral ratings.
• American Tech initiated Autodesk , Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK) with a Buy rating and $12 target. The firm expects to see meaningful upside to 2008 consensus estimates and recommends investors to buy the stock on any pullback following Thursday's results.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Soleil initiated Openwave Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPWV) with a Hold rating, citing unlikely outperformance due to their maturing product line and consolidating customer base.
• The Bank of America initiated F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) with a Buy and $90 target. The firm said checks in the enterprise segment have been positive. In addition, Soleil said the company will soon enter a major product cycle with four launches.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Analyst initiations 11-14-06: SBUX, Panera with Outperform, Autodesk with Buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cramer calls for Panera to go to $74; make dough from bread originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Oct 2006 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.