With the market crash this morning, it may be hard for many investors seeing much of a silver-lining to the doom cloud that 2008 seems to be so far.Our special focus this week on restauraunts continues this trend, with senior analysts predicting a fairly negative outlook for 2008:Bryan Elliot, Raymond James & Associates:
TWST: Bryan, what is your outlook for 2008 at this point?Mr. Elliott: Very uncertain. We have entered a tunnel from a consumer spending standpoint. Essentially the purchasing power of consumers overall is very uncertain right here. We are in the dark part of the initial entry into the tunnel. We don’t know if we have five S-curves in front of us or if we are going to have a pretty straight line and pretty soon we will see the little pinpoint of light at the other end of the tunnel. It is truly unknowable, in my view, at this time.
Lynne Collier, Keybanc Capital Management:
TWST: Lynne, what is your take on the outlook?Ms. Collier: Looking into, 2008, I think QSR will outperform. The casual dining players, in an effort to combat higher input costs, have been raising prices fairly aggressively. So I believe that we will likely see negative traffic again in 2008. Again, in terms of casual dining performance, the more differentiated companies that have superior price value will be better positioned to outperform in 2008. I think the cost outlook is a little better in terms of the comparisons being easier. On the demand side of the equation for 2008, I think it is going to continue to be difficult, especially for casual dining.
For the full roundtable, including an overview of 2007 , and here to look going into 2008, click here.
What does 2008 hold?
January 17, 2008
2008 in Emerging Markets
April 17, 2008
Vet Spending Growth Exceeded U.S. GDP in 2008, 2009
June 21, 2010
Steven West of Stifel, Nicolaus picks Burger King in a Grim Market for Restaurants
March 26, 2009
Restaurants With Size & Scale Focus on International Growth
July 28, 2010
