Returning to Restaurant Row
This time last year, I wrote a column focused on what I refer to as restaurant row, an area near the entrance to the Pennsylvania Turnpike that is teaming with publicly-traded restaurant names. A return visit just one year later revealed some major changes and also bears testament to the ever-changing and competitive nature of the restaurant business.
Of course, Cracker Barrel (CBRL) is my preferred stop on restaurant row. By now, colleagues are no doubt tired of meeting me there for lunch and my family has had it with my channel-check dinners. While shares are down 17% in the past year, revenues have been stagnant and comps declining, the company has continued putting up decent earnings numbers overall. I've been more cautious on restaurants, especially casual dining names over the past year or so given the fears of rising costs and a still very troubled economy. While I've been out of Cracker Barrel since early 2010 when shares were in the low $50s, I continue to watch for opportunity....297 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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