
The Japanese restaurant chain, founded in 1964 by Rocky Aoki, is seeing more than just shrimp sizzling. Their stock is hot too with 90 percent returns over
the past two years, according to this Money.CNN.com article.
The company, known for its Japanese "teppanyaki" or hibachi style cooking, is remodeling and expanding and feeding not only their customers but their earnings growth for 2007.
Benihana stock hovers around $32 but Jennifer Milan, an analyst with Ryan Beck consulted for the article, sees the price target of $35.
Currently, five remodelings have been completed and four restaurants, currently undergoing work, will re-open next quarter. The closures have hurt sales and earnings but that is considered a short term problem that will more than pay for itself as they re-open, as evidenced by the 15 percent increase in sales realized by those restaurants who have completed their renovations.
Expansions plans have included the purchase of seven sushi restaurants under the upscale and niche Haru brand and 13 RA Shushi locations. The RA chain has the potential of becoming a 100-plus location concept, according to Behnihana management noted in the article and is estimated to produce a 33.7 percen
t ROI.
Read the full article here to see how Benihana compares to PF Changs (PFCB), Kona Grill (KONA) and The Cheescake Factory (CAKE) in growth potential.






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