Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores (CBRL) operates 608 combination full-service restaurant and gift shops in 42 states.
The restaurants, which feature home-style country cooking menus, accounted for 79.6% of fiscal 2013 revenues. The gift shops (20.4% of sales) feature rocking chairs, apparel, toys, cookware, ceramics, and an array of food items.
Consensus estimates call for CBRL to earn about $5.77 per share in the fiscal year that ends in July and $6.44 in fiscal 2015, compared with $4.97 in fiscal 2013. Officers and directors own 1.2% of the 23.8 million outstanding shares, which is down from 62 million in 1998. The company pays out $3-per-share annually and has increased its payout for 11 straight years.
Vita Nelson, www.directinvesting.com, 914-925-0022, February 19, 2014
