Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Could I please have your opinion on Dunkin’ Brands? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Dunkin’ Brands Group, $40.90, symbol DNKN on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 106.3 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; www.dunkinbrands.com), has two main restaurant concepts: Dunkin’ Donuts, which supplies 78% of its revenue, and Baskin-Robbins ice cream (22%). The Massachusetts-based company has 10,551 Dunkin’ Donuts outlets and 7,016 Baskin-Robbins locations in 60 countries. Franchisees operate nearly all of these stores. In the three months ended March 30, 2013, Dunkin’ Brands’ earnings per share before one-time items rose 16.0%, to $0.29 from $0.25 a year earlier. Sales rose 6.2%, to $161.9 million from $152.4 million. Same-store sales in the U.S. rose 1.7% at Dunkin’ Donuts but fell 4.4% at Baskin-Robbins due to harsh winter weather. At its international locations, same-store sales rose 1.3% at Dunkin’ Donuts and 4.2% at Baskin-Robbins. The company’s profits will likely keep rising, even though it faces increasing competition in its main markets and ingredient costs continue to climb. That’s because it has been able to pass higher food costs on to…