Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, casual dining chain Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL 2.08%) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Cracker Barrel and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Cracker Barrel facts
|
Headquarters (Founded) |
Lebanon, Tenn. (1969) |
|
Market Cap |
$1.4 billion |
|
Industry |
Restaurants |
|
Trailing-12-Month Revenue |
$2.6 billion |
|
Management |
CEO Sandra Cochran (since 2011) |
|
Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) |
36.9% |
|
Cash/Debt |
$118.9 million / $554.0 million |
|
Dividend Yield |
3.3% |
|
Competitors |
Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 87% of the 196 members who have rated Cracker Barrel believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.
A couple of months ago, one of those bulls, fellow Fool Thomas Engle (TMF1000), succinctly summed up the outperform case for our community:
Cracker Barrel is a country styled casual dining restaurant. Its restaurants are along highways where traffic can be hurt by higher gas prices. Today they have 660 restaurants which is a fairly small store base considering Applebees has nearly 2000 stores. The company has room to grow and is working on a smaller store concept that will be cheaper to build and allow them to be more flexible when looking for store locations. I would like to see them diversify away from the highways. ...
It isn't going to be a fast grower like [Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD)], but it is steady and it pays a nice dividend. Biglari/Cracker barrel proxy fight is costing them some money, but he does keep them on their toes, perhaps it evens out. I don't really want them to grow too fast. I like their disciplined approach. They offer a good value to customers and they are fairly small compared to other casual dining restaurants. I believe the growth will come.
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