To: SusieQ1065 who wrote (227 ) 8/22/2002 5:34:14 PM From: SusieQ1065 Read Replies (1) | Respond to Panera Bread Co. (PNRA) 32.24 -2.62: Panera Bread Company operates bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread and Saint Louis Bread Co. names. The company is one of the top names in the emerging specialty bread/cafe category due to its unique bread combined with a quick, casual dining experience. Its bakery-cafes are principally located in suburban, strip mall and regional mall locations. While the company profile is mildly interesting, it's Panera's operating results that have consistently garnered attention in the markets. Yet shares in the company are getting hit this morning after it released quarterly earnings results that matched analyst expectations. Specifically, Panera reported second quarter earnings of $0.13 per share, in line with the Multex consensus estimate. At the same time, revenues came in at $62.3 million which was also ahead of consensus expectations at $58.6 million. Notably, Panera generated second quarter revenue growth of 43% year-over-year and quarterly earnings growth of 63%. Looking forward, management maintained its targets for the second half and the full year. From a fundamental standpoint, PNRA currently trades at 56.5x trailing earnings, 46.3x estimates for FY02 and 32.4x estimates for FY03. Clearly those numbers are somewhat higher than you might like to see, even for a company with projected growth in the area of 40%. Yet what caught our attention today is that the shares have tested, and have thus far held, their 50-day simple moving average around 31.56. We don't expect that support point to go down easily and believe the shares are worth a look here over the near term. -- Mike Ashbaugh, Briefing.com
