By Mark Kalinowski
Published on July 18, 2019 at 12:00 AM
Ahead of Starbucks’ (SBUX) fiscal Q3 earnings release scheduled for after the market close on Thursday, July 25th, we upgrade SBUX to Buy (from Neutral). Some of the concerns we had 3-6 months ago have been alleviated to a meaningful degree, including (1) the possibility that a serious run for office by former CEO Howard Schultz could have an adverse effect on the business; Mr. Schultz has put his campaign on hold which significantly alleviates this risk, and (2) concerns about competition in China — public filings by Luckin Coffee (LK; Not Rated) — which had its IPO this past May — give us a greater comfort level that near-term competitive threats in this key growth market can be fought off.
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By Mark Kalinowski
Published on May 8, 2019 at 12:00 AM
Earlier today, Wendy’s (WEN; Neutral) reported adjusted EPS of $0.14, surpassing our $0.11 estimate and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $0.11. Relative to our model, outperformance came from: (1) better-than-expected G&A/Revenues (12.1% actual vs. 12.7% estimated), (2) better-than-expected Cost of Sales/Sales (85.0% actual vs. 85.8% forecasted), (3) lower-than-projected Interest Expense ($29.1 million actual vs. $30.1 million projected), and (4) a somewhat more favorable tax rate than anticipated (20.0% actual vs. 22.5% forecasted). These positives were partially offset by some other factors, such as higher-than-anticipated Other Operating Expenses.
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By Mark Kalinowski
Published on May 6, 2019 at 12:00 AM
In our April 8th report “Tidbits re: Burger-Sector Same-Store Sales Trends, and SBUX,” we noted that “With March 2019 now in the rear-view mirror, we are pleasantly surprised that this month appears to have turned out very well for burger-sector same-store sales. In fact, based on our proprietary, data-driven checks, the midsingle digit number put up by U.S. quick-service burger chains for March 2019 looks like the best month in this regard since February 2016, for which some concepts (depending on their accounting methodologies) were helped by that month’s extra Leap Day.”
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