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Non-Tech : Foodmaker (Jack-in-the-Box Restaurants) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arnie Doolittle who wrote (284)	12/24/1997 12:56:00 AM
From: Chris Nevil	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 338

Arnie, I love it! No ambiguity there, eh? I celebrated the FM "turn" (and tried to forget what was happening to the rest of my sordid portfolio!) with a lunchtime trip through the Jack drive-through. Happy holidays, all.

To: Arnie Doolittle who wrote (284)	1/17/1998 10:08:00 AM
From: David Kuspa	Respond to of 338

Arnie and fellow FMers, read 'em and weep: a brand new Jack-in-the-Box is going in 3 blocks from my house! This is in the Rancho Del Oro area, corner of College and Oceanside Blvd, a masterplanned, upscale (for Oceanside) community, and a very busy, high-traffic corner. In short, another great location. I'll be able to stroll over there any time and pick up an Oreo Cookie Shake for dessert. Plus, I'll be able to gauge the traffic going through the new restaurant every time I drive by it. Lately, FM is trying to move above $16, but every time it hits $15 3/4, a sizeable block sells and brings it back down to $15. Makes me wonder if someone is methodically unloading their shares. Sure hope we hear something on the lawsuit soon. D. Kuspa

To: Arnie Doolittle who wrote (284)	1/30/1998 7:03:00 PM
From: David Kuspa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 338

S&P raise Foodmaker's outlook from stable to positive. Another notch up from the long recovery, and coming just before earnings release might provide another boost before Wednesday's quarterly announcement: "The upgrade reflects Foodmaker's strengthened market position, improved profitability and financial health, partially offset by the risks associated with operating in the intensely competitive restaurant industry, and limited financial flexibility. San Diego, Calif.-based Foodmaker operates and franchises 1,323 Jack-In-The-Box (JIB) quick service restaurants. Management's efforts to revitalize JIB through aggressive new product introduction and marketing, and improving overall restaurant operations have resulted in significant growth in sales and comparable store sales amid a difficult industry environment. Total debt to EBITDA ratio has also declined to 3.9x in 1997 from 5.9x in 1993, partially due to the redemption of $93 million high coupon debt in the past two years." biz.yahoo.com Arnie, can you provide some more insight on the EBDTA improvement, since you're so good with these numbers? Are some institutional investors still going to shy away from FM due to its high debt? D. Kuspa

To: Arnie Doolittle who wrote (284)	2/4/1998 4:55:00 PM
From: David Kuspa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 338

FM 1Q98 results are in: $0.30 basic, $0.29 diluted; consensus estimates were for $0.27/share. Here's the link to the Yahoo! release: biz.yahoo.com Ok, so I've been talking to myself here for a few weeks. But it looks like we're going to have some fun tomorrow--unless the recent price rise has already factored this good news in. While sales growth overall has been impressive, it's clear that per-store growth has slowed: "Per store average (PSA) sales at comparable company restaurants increased 2.7 percent, as customer visits grew compared to the prior year. Average check amounts were flat compared with last year's first quarter." This can be viewed both positively and negatively. Positive in that this means the existing stores have pretty much recovered all the business they lost after the food poisonings, and negative in that growth will now have to come pretty much from building new stores only. Recently, we had per store sales and average check $$ growing in high-single to double digits. D. Kuspa