Mad Money maven Jim Cramer told his CNBC disciples last night that publicly traded
restaurateur Cheesecake Factory Inc. would make a perfect buyout candidate,
BloggingBuyouts
noted. There's no word on whether he's waited in the long lines outside
the New Jersey locations, but the willingness of customers to queue up like
shoppers at a Soviet grocery store suggests Cramer may be on to something
beyond the simple financials of a deal. As for those financials, Cramer noted
the chain's cash flow troubles, suggesting a turnaround is required even
though these problems aren't affecting the stock. Maybe money managers have
seen the waiting throngs.
Cheesecake Factory is the second publicly traded restaurateur that Cramer is
salivating over. The other is Darden Restaurants Inc., better known as Olive
Garden and Red Lobster. Darden's main attraction is its real estate because it
owns about 60% of its 1,390 U.S. locations. However, with a market cap of $5.8
billion — more than twice that of Cheesecake Factory —
BloggingBuyouts
suggests there are better opportunities for private equity firms
interested in a restaurant purchase. —Matthew Wurtzel
See
Cheesecake Factory post from BloggingBuyouts
See
Darden Restaurants post from BloggingBuyouts
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