Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: Please advise if Biglari Holdings is a buy, hold or sell. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Biglari Holdings, $496.61, symbol BH on New York (Shares outstanding: 1.7 million; Market cap: $837.7 million; www.biglariholdings.com), is a holding company that operates a number of different businesses. Its strategy is to keep expanding by putting cash generated from its subsidiaries into new investments. Right now, Biglari’s two main holdings are the Steak ’n Shake chain of casual dining restaurants and Western Sizzlin’ steakhouses. The company’s CEO is 36-year old Iranian-American Sardar Biglari, who has frequently taken an aggressive activist shareholder stance with companies in which he invests. He’s now embroiled in a fight with Cracker Barrel (Nasdaq symbol CBRL) to put itself up for sale and seat Biglari candidates on its board of directors. He has also twice attempted—and failed—to get shareholder approval for a plan to move Biglari to a dual-share-class structure. The company believes this would make its shares more liquid and give it additional flexibility when structuring acquisitions and financing transactions. However, its shareholders disagree and instead see it…