WEN A Closer Look at Wendy’s Latest Test Menu Item

By Mark Kalinowski Published on January 27, 2020 at 12:00 AM

We recently sampled Wendy’s (WEN; Buy) PBC (Plant-Based Chicken sandwich), that was tested in some (but not all) restaurants in the Orlando market in very late December and early-to-mid January. We maintain our Buy rating on WEN, and briefly note some of our observations:

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WEN What Concepts Might Wendy’s Take Breakfast Share from in 2020

By Mark Kalinowski Published on November 12, 2019 at 12:00 AM

With Wendy’s (WEN; Buy) planning to launch a nationwide breakfast business in Q1 2020, and aiming to generate $1 billion in annualized sales from this initiative fairly quickly, we thought it might be wise to examine exactly which restaurant concepts out there might be most at risk from share loss from Wendy’s breakfast launch — and to what (quantified) degree. In our view, the publicly-traded concepts most at risk include McDonald’s (MCD; Neutral), Burger King (owned by Restaurant Brands International [QSR; Not Rated]), and Dunkin’ (owned by Dunkin’ Brands Group [DNKN; Neutral]).

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WEN (Post-Call) The Calm Before the Breakfast Storm

By Mark Kalinowski Published on November 6, 2019 at 12:00 AM

Earlier today, Wendy’s (WEN; Buy) reported adjusted Q3 EPS of $0.19, coming in ahead of our $0.15 forecast and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $0.15. We attribute the earnings beat to two main factors: (1) better-thanexpected success of Spicy Chicken Nuggets, which drove Q3 same-store sales up by +4.4%, the third-best quarterly showing this decade, and (2) a more favorable-thanexpected adjusted tax rate.

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