sonc posts
FeedPosted Oct 30th 2009 3:30PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Small business

In the restaurant business, Troy Smith is a giant. He is the founder of
Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ:
SONC). Now, the company has a chain of about 3,600 units across 42 states.
Unfortunately, Smith
died this week. He was 87.
Like many great entrepreneurs, Smith got experience in his industry before he started his business. After serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II, he got a job as a truck driver for some cafes and restaurants. From this, he started to brainstorm business ideas.
Continue reading Sonic's mastermind, Troy Smith, dies at 87
Posted Jun 27th 2009 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Walgreen Co (WAG), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Kroger Co (KR), ConAgra Foods (CAG), Darden Restaurants (DRI), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), KB HOME (KBH), Lennar Corp'A' (LEN), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Red Hat Inc (RHT), CKE Restaurants (CKR), Rite Aid Corp (RAD), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Nike, Oracle, Kroger, Walgreen, Monsanto, KB Home ...
Posted Jun 24th 2009 3:30PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, McDonald's (MCD), Yum Brands (YUM), Wendy's Intl (WEN), Burger King Hldgs (BKC)
Sonic (NASDAQ:
SONC), a fast-food chain whose colleagues include
Burger King (NYSE:
BKC),
McDonald's (NYSE:
MCD),
Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE:
WEN), and
Yum! Brands (NYSE:
YUM), reported earnings for the
third quarter on Tuesday after the bell. The shares have done well today on the news. As I write this, Sonic's stock is up well over 12% in afternoon trading. Volume is great. Do you want to get in on the action?
Sonic said it earned an adjusted 24 cents per share. This article reported expectations as being $0.20 per share, so management beat the bottom line by a nice amount. We'll throw that result on the positive side of the line.
Continue reading Sonic beats Wall Street, but sales are sagging
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 Apr 27th 2009 11:50AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Pfizer (PFE), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Analyst initiations
Analyst upgrades:
- Deutsche Bank upgraded BT Group (NYSE: BT) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's Q4 results could remove uncertainty and cost cutting initiatives could drive upside.
- Baird upgraded Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $42 from $34 citing valuation, solid execution, and growth potential.
- Citigroup upgraded Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) to Buy from Hold as it believes the recent sell-off presents an attractive buying opportunity. The firm believes Netflix has one of the best earnings outlooks in the internet sector and increased its target price to $52 from $37.
- AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
- Joy Global (NYSE: JOYG) and Bucyrus (NYSE: BUCY) were raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: BT, NFLX, AZN, PFE ...
Posted Mar 28th 2009 11:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Walgreen Co (WAG), Best Buy (BBY), Carnival Corp (CCL), Tiffany and Co (TIF), ConAgra Foods (CAG), Research in Motion (RIMM), KB HOME (KBH)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Best Buy, Walgreen, Tiffany, Research in Motion, KB Home and more
Posted Oct 1st 2008 12:27PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Competitive strategy
Sonic Corp. (NYSE:
SONC) is looking to refranchise hundreds of its company-owned restaurants, as franchised locations have been outperforming of late.
It's a good idea. Franchisees are more motivated to produce strong results than paid-by-the-hour managers, and getting out of the operations business and living on franchise fees and royalties will reduce risk and could increase returns.
But the problem,
according (subscription required) to
The Wall Street Journal is that tight credit markets and a weak economy could make it difficult for prospective franchisees to make the investment to buy or open Sonic locations.
Continue reading Sonic wants to refranchise restaurants: Good luck with that!
Posted Sep 29th 2008 10:10AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Bank of America (BAC), Small business

With few job opportunities, people are looking at starting up franchises. In fact, I recently talked to someone who said that the upcoming
Franchise Expo conference has seen a doubling of registrations.
But according to the
Wall Street Journal [a paid publication], there are signs that the credit crunch is taking a toll on franchises.
After all, the upfront costs for a franchise can be significant. Moreover, there are the expenses for upkeep and maintenance.
Some of the franchises that are looking to pull back on expansion include major operators like
Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ:
SONC),
Panera Bread (NASDAQ:
PNRA) and so on as different finance firms such as
GE's (NYSE:
GE) capital arm and
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) are showing some restraint and putting a squeeze on financing.
Basically, until the capital markets stabilize and credit gets back to normal, it can be tough times for those who want to jump into the franchise game.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements
. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website
Posted Jun 28th 2008 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Walgreen Co (WAG), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Kroger Co (KR), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Research in Motion (RIMM), General Mills (GIS), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), KB HOME (KBH), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Red Hat Inc (RHT), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Palm Inc (PALM), CKE Restaurants (CKR), Rite Aid Corp (RAD)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: RIM, Oracle, KB Home, Nike, Kroger, Walgreen and others
Posted Jun 25th 2008 11:43AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Boeing Co (BA)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: The Aerospace sector, Boeing, Aurora Oil & Gas and Syniverse were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- Goldman downgraded the Aerospace sector to Cautious from Neutral to reflect high oil prices and the weak economy. The firm also downgraded Boeing (NYSE: BA) shares to Sell from Neutral and added the stock to their Conviction Sell List as they expect the economic weakness and high fuel prices to drive slowing orders.
- Jefferies downgraded shares of Aurora Oil & Gas (AMEX: AOG) to Underperform from Hold to reflect the company's falling production, minimal cash flow through the remainder of 2008, and limited access to capital.
- Baird cut Syniverse (NYSE: SVR) to Neutral from Outperform as they believe the impact from the Verizon (NYSE: VZ)-Alltel merger could be greater than investors think.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
Posted Apr 7th 2008 12:02PM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst initiations
MOST NOTEWORTHY: EV3, Steel Dynamics and Sonic were today's noteworthy initiations:
- JP Morgan initiated EV3 (NASDAQ: EVVV) with a Neutral rating. The firm sees risk to guidance and finds it too early to recommend the stock.
- Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) was assumed with an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley.
- Lehman initiated Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC) with an Overweight rating.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
- HSBC initiated Rostelecom (NYSE: ROS) with an Underweight rating and $36.50 target.
- Keefe Bruyette assumed German American Bancorp (NASDAQ: GABC) with a Market Perform rating and $13 target.
- JP Morgan initiated Perdigao (NYSE: PDA) with an Overweight rating.
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