Tag Archives: Arcos Dorados

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Jamba's Looking Forward to Summer

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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On Tuesday, Jamba will release its latest quarterly results. The key to making smart investment decisions on stocks reporting earnings is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

Many businesses get most of their business during the fall and winter months, but for smoothie specialist Jamba, its cold beverages are a tough sell during the frigid part of the year. Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Jamba over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report.

Stats on Jamba

Analyst EPS Estimate

($0.02)

Year-Ago EPS

($0.03)

Revenue Estimate

$54.1 million

Change From Year-Ago Revenue

2%

Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters

2

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Did Jamba hibernate or grow this quarter?
Analysts have gotten more optimistic about Jamba’s earnings prospects in recent months, having slashed their initial loss estimates for the just-ended quarter in half and boosted their consensus for future full-year 2014 earnings by $0.02 per share. The stock has responded in kind with a 6% jump since late January.

Much of the good news for Jamba during the first quarter came when it made its earnings announcement for the previous quarter in early March. Posting its first annual profit since going public eight years ago, Jamba confirmed its previous guidance for 2013, encouraging shareholders looking for further growth from the company.

How Jamba will grow involves a combination of strategies. The company still plans between 60 and 80 new traditional locations this year, but Jamba is also pushing hard on its JambaGO stations, which are small self-service machines targeted largely at school cafeterias. Jamba expects 1,000 new JambaGO locations this year, which would more than triple its count of just over 400 as of the end of 2012.

Internationally, Jamba still has a small presence, but it made a big step by making a master franchise development agreement to open 80 stores throughout Mexico beginning later this year. The success that Arcos Dorados has had in Mexico and other Latin American countries in franchising McDonald’s locations shows the huge potential that the region has generally for American restaurants, and focusing on warmer climates should help Jamba avoid the seasonality it suffers colder markets like the U.S. and Canada.

In Jamba’s report, watch to see if the company’s new store format is inspiring more sales of fresh juice and other beverages that are more in line with what Starbucks focused on in buying juice-specialist Evolution Fresh. If it does, then the potential for a Jamba-Starbucks merger could rise considerably — and the greater product diversification will make Jamba look much more attractive as an independent

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Will the Dow Ever Stop Setting Records?

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Obviously, no market ever rises forever. But for the fourth straight day, the Dow Jones Industrials are pushing into record territory, this time responding to much-stronger-than-expected gains in employment. A jump of 236,000 jobs in nonfarm payrolls caused the unemployment rate to fall to 7.7%, its lowest level in more than four years. Job gains were broad across various industries, pointing to general strength but leading some economists to point out that gains this big were commonplace in past expansions. By 10:55 a.m. EST, the Dow had given back a big part of its earlier gains but was still up 28 points, while the broader market was also up modestly.

Among Dow stocks, McDonald’s was one of the best performers, climbing about 1.5% despite seeing global same-store sales drop 1.5%. Despite hopes that new products like its Fish McBites would help boost revenue, comps fell throughout its Europe, U.S., and Asia-Pacific regions, although sales were positive in China. Looking forward, McDonald’s needs to execute well on its expansion plans in order to get sales moving in the right direction.

Sticking with the Golden Arches theme, Latin-American McDonald’s franchisee Arcos Dorados saw its shares fall 0.4% after announcing its quarterly earnings despite opening higher on apparent strength in its results. Despite a slight drop in net income, Arcos Dorados managed to post comparable-sales growth of 8.6% during the fourth quarter, even though weakness in the Brazilian economy has weighed on the company’s performance in its biggest market. Guidance for 2013 was even more optimistic: Arcos Dorados expects a potential economic rebound to allow double-digit sales growth and further market-share expansion. With new stores also coming, Arcos Dorados appears to have its growth story still intact despite investors’ uncertainty.

Finally, Pandora soared 16.4% following a favorable earnings report. A 54% jump in revenue wasn’t enough to make Pandora profitable, but with an 8.5% share of radio listeners, the service is clearly gaining traction among users. Further, news that CEO Joe Kennedy is leaving the company may signal a new phase in Pandora’s growth as the key to the company’s future changes from innovation to better execution of its existing strategy.

Learn more about McDonald’s
McDonald’s may be up today, but it was one of the worst-performing blue-chip stocks of 2012. Our top analyst on the company will tell you whether you should be worried by this trend, and he’ll shed light on whether McDonald’s is a buy at today’s prices. Click here now to read our premium research report on the company.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Arcos Dorados Earnings: An Early Look

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Earnings season is winding down, with most companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still some companies left to report, and Arcos Dorados is one of them. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise.

Those who know Spanish will understand the reference to the Golden Arches, as Arcos Dorados is the biggest McDonald’s franchisee in Latin America. But with McDonald’s having seen some struggles in its own overseas business, has Arcos Dorados dealt with the same challenges? Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Arcos Dorados over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Friday.

Stats on Arcos Dorados

Analyst EPS Estimate

$0.22

Change From Year-Ago EPS

(8.3%)

Revenue Estimate

$1.04 billion

Change From Year-Ago Revenue

8.4%

Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters

1

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Arcos Dorados give investors what they want this quarter?
Analysts have kept their fourth-quarter earnings views on Arcos Dorados rock-steady over the past few months. But investors haven’t been quite as comfortable, as they’ve seen their shares lose 1% of their value in a stock market that has generally been soaring.

For years, Arcos Dorados has been an attractive way to play the booming consumer market in emerging economies of Latin America. But during 2012, aggressive action from the Brazilian government to rein in speculation sent its currency reeling, which hurt earnings at Arcos. Yet the company has seen impressive same-store sales when you exclude the currency impact, and Arcos has taken advantage of far less saturation in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America to push growth aggressively.

However, competitors are using Arcos Dorados’ playbook against it. Burger King recently created a joint venture with franchisee Beboca called BK Centro America, which will allow Burger King restaurants throughout the six nations of Central America. Given the success that Arcos has had in South America, Burger King may look for a similar deal there in the future.

One tough situation Arcos Dorados faces is in Venezuela, where recent currency devaluations have now been followed by the death of leader Hugo Chavez. With Arcos Dorados getting nearly 9% of its earnings from Venezuela in the first half of 2012, instability there could prove to be problematic for the franchisee.

In its quarterly report, look for Arcos Dorados to talk about the long-term economic impact of coming global sporting events in Brazil, including the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. They may seem a long way off, but preparing for all the attention that Brazil will get over the next several years could be critical for Arcos Dorados to build a favorable reputation from the events.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Fool Looks Ahead

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By Rick Aristotle Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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There’s never a dull week on Wall Street. Let’s go over some of the news that will shape the week to come.

Monday
The market kicks off with Stratasys reporting its latest quarterly results on Monday morning. Three-dimensional printing was one of last year’s hottest sectors, though investors have been steering clear of the few publicly traded companies specializing in additive manufacturing lately. Stratasys will give the niche a shot to get back into the limelight.

Tuesday
Qihoo 360 reports on Tuesday. The company behind China‘s leading Internet browser and provider of online security solutions turned heads this summer when it rolled out its own search engine. The market was even more surprised when Qihoo 360’s engine began to take off at the expense of the market darling.

Qihoo 360 will shed some light on its progress on Tuesday, and that will hopefully include some insight into the recent legal fisticuffs in the world’s largest Internet market.

Wednesday
Alon USA Parnters checks in on Wednesday. The limited partnership has the capacity to crank out 70,000 barrels a day through a crude oil refinery in Texas. Analysts are holding out for a juicy quarterly profit of $1.83 a unit when it reports.

Thursday
Skullcandy is one of the bigger disappointments of the 2011 IPO class. The maker of headphones and other audio accessories went public at $20, and it has since shed more than two thirds of its value. We’ll see on Thursday whether it can turn in an amplified performance with its latest report.

Friday
Friday is usually quiet on the earnings front, but that won’t stop Arcos Dorados from reporting. The Argentina-based company is the world’s largest Mickey D’s franchisee, serving up Big Macs and fries across Latin America and the Caribbean. If there’s every any doubt where its burger-flipping allegiance lies, just know that the corporate moniker means “Golden Arches” in Spanish.

Beyond next week
The Motley Fool’s chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock it is in the brand-new free report: “The Motley Fool’s Top Stock for 2013.” Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

The article The Fool Looks Ahead originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Stratasys and owns shares of Arcos Dorados, Skullcandy, and Stratasys. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance