Two popular restaurants with gains ahead

Article Excerpt

RUBY TUESDAY, INC. $9.69 (New York symbol RT; SI Rating: Speculative) (865-379-5700; www.rubytuesday.com; Shares outstanding: 64.8 million; Market cap: $627.8 million; No dividends paid) owns 656 restaurants in the U.S. Franchisees run another 165 American outlets, and international franchisees operate 58 restaurants in Canada, Chile, Dubai, Egypt, Guam, Greece, Hawaii, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Romania, Saudi Arabia and Trinidad. Ruby Tuesday offers casual American dining. The company continues to improve its menu: It now includes a wide variety of appetizers, handcrafted burgers (including beef, bison, turkey, chicken and crab), a 46-item salad bar, fish, ribs and steaks. In the three months ended June 1, 2010, Ruby Tuesday’s earnings per share rose 17.9%, to $0.33 from $0.28 a year earlier. That’s mainly because the company closed stores, made better use of its workers and cut costs during the quarter. Revenue fell 1.2%, to $313.5 million from $317.3 million. That’s because Ruby Tuesday closed 16 restaurants in the past year. The company paid…