WEN A Spicy Ratings Change for Wendy’s

By Mark Kalinowski Published on September 4, 2019 at 12:00 AM

With this report, we upgrade the shares of Wendy’s (WEN) to Buy from Neutral. We believe that August 2019 same-store sales for Wendy’s were easily the best such month for the concept so far this year, with the return of Spicy Chicken Nuggets proving to be a large — maybe even massive — hit with guests. In fact, we believe that August 2019 was perhaps the best or second-best month for Wendy’s samestore sales so far this decade. While there was nothing unusual about July 2019 (the start to Q3), if Wendy’s can retain some of the momentum that it apparently gained during August, that bodes well for the brand for September and as it heads toward its planned October 2019 Analyst Meeting.

CAKE What Does the Fox Say “Thank You to The Cheesecake Factory

By Mark Kalinowski Published on July 31, 2019 at 12:00 AM

After today’s market close, The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE; Neutral) reported adjusted Q2 EPS of $0.82, matching our $0.82 projection, and coming in one cent above sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $0.81.

DIN Updated EPS Estimates Lead to Ratings Change on Dine Brands

By Mark Kalinowski Published on June 28, 2019 at 12:00 AM

Based on what we believe is our newly-improved quarter-by-quarter understanding of the Dine Brands (DIN) model, and in the context of the stock’s +40.1% year-todate rise through the market’s close on June 27th, we reduce our rating on DIN to Neutral (from Buy), and adjust our quarterly EPS estimates for Q2E-Q4E as follows: