PZZA Here’s the Restaurant Company that Papa John’s Should Emulate

Although our Buy rating on Papa John’s (PZZA) is mostly predicated on the possibility that the company is acquired by a possible suitor — for example, on October 30th, Reuters reported that “Bain Capital and CVC Capital Partners are among the private equity firms competing to acquire Papa John’s” — there are multiple other paths to meaningful upside for the stock. We write this brief report to suggest one other path to meaningful upside, if an acquisition of PZZA fails to materialize. (We still believe the odds of an acquisition over the next 12 months or so are greater than 50/50.)

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