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What's
Driving This Rebound? |
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With
much of the focus being devoted to the market, Fannie, and Freddie over
the last several days, we're going bring some balance back and focus on
one of our small cap followings - they've got another batch of good news.
We'll round
out today's discussion not with 'yet-another' debate over whether the market's
bullish or bearish, but instead with a look at which parts of the market
are leading or lagging.
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Spicy
Pickle Celebrates #42 - Time to Accumulate? |
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One of our perpetual
points about Spicy
Pickle (OTCBB: SPKL) since the very beginning of our coverage has been
the consistency with which they make progress. Great market, bad market,
high inflation, low inflation, expensive oil, inexpensive oil....none of
it has really mattered. The company has just continued to crank out new
stores.
 As
such, today's update should come as no surprise - the organization has
opened its 42nd restaurant. This one's in Portage, Michigan. It's the first
one in Michigan, which is now the 14th state to be able to claim one of
the eateries.
Nine more units
have already been signed for in Michigan; the next step with those stores
will be to find the right location, and then build them. The most important
one, however, is the first one in a region. It acts as a seed for the rest.
As far as the
stock is concerned, we haven't seen quite the same progress there as we
have from the company. Such is life when the market tide becomes so great
no stock can escape the tidal force. In other words, we attribute much
of the Pickle's pullback to the environment.
That, however,
may actually be a good thing....if you like values. Like we said,
the company has continued to grow regardless of the stock's price. Eventually
though, the stock will reflect that growth. In the meantime, SPKL is in
the same rough seas most stocks seem to be in.
On that note,
we have to wonder if the last three days have signaled an end to the most
recent bout of selling. We saw lows of 53 cents on Tuesday and Wednesday,
and a low of 54 cents today. We also saw a volume spike on Tuesday or Wednesday,
which can often serve as a pivot point. And, the stock is up rather nicely
today. Perhaps a major player was making exits early in the week. If so,
they seem to be out of the way now.
The big line
in the sand for some traders is likely to be 69 cents. That level was resistance
early in the week, and has been support a couple of different times earlier
in the year. A move about that line could inspire new money back into the
stock, though certainly there are many buyers stepping in at current prices.
(And why not? The nine cent difference is 15%.)
The news release
is below.
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What's
Hot, & What's Not? |
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We'll refer
you back to the most recent discussion we've had on the sector and style
front. It
was July 3rd. In that edition, we essentially forecasted strength in
the financial sector, and possibly telecom. We also advised steering clear
of energy and basic materials.
 Where
did we come up with those ideas? It wasn't based on history or recent
trends. They were actually based on the premise of being overvalued or
undervalued; we were expecting reversals of fortune....or at least reversals
of trends.
Since then,
transportation has continued to dominate (a bit of a surprise to us). However,
financial stocks and telecom have indeed picked themselves up out of the
dust. Basic materials have fallen behind, and energy has just been terrible.
You can thank
us later.
We also examined
styles and market caps. At the time, growth stocks had been faring batter
than value....mid cap growth in particular. Value stocks were lagging,
led lower by large cap value names.
 The
expectation here was rooted in the same philosophy we employed with sectors
- rotation was likely. The new leaders would be the former laggards, and
vice versa.
Though it's
only been a couple of weeks, we have indeed started to see rotation, pretty
much across the board. Small cap growth and small cap value have led the
way since then. Mid cap value is right behind. Mid cap growth has faded
to fourth, while large cap value has moved ahead from a distant sixth to
a close fifth. The big loser here? Large cap growth.
In other words
(and like we suggested), value has started to accelerate and growth has
slowed down. Mid cap growth has really suffered, while large cap value
has the pedal to the metal. The snapshot looked quite the opposite just
a couple of weeks ago.
The point is
- and perhaps lesson learned - the trend isn't always your friend. Sometimes
it can pay to buy things when nobody wants them, and sell things when everybody
wants them.
We intend to
continually update our readers on emerging sector trends like these. So,
be sure to tune in often.
| Spicy Pickle(TM)
Announces Grand Opening of 42nd Spicy Pickle(TM) Restaurant
Thursday July
17, 2:00 pm ET
Location Marks
14th State and First in Michigan DENVER, CO--(MARKET WIRE)--Jul 17, 2008
-- Spicy Pickle Franchising, Inc. (OTC BB:SPKL.OB) fast-casual restaurants
announced today the grand opening of its 42nd restaurant at 3774 W. Centre
Avenue in Portage, Michigan. The new restaurant marks the 14th state for
Spicy Pickle(TM) and the first location in Michigan. Spicy Pickle(TM),
one of the hottest ideas in fast casual food today, offers customers a
wide variety of culinary-inspired subs and panini sandwiches, fresh and
unique salad combinations, and Neapolitan-style thin crust Pizzetti pizzas
-- all combined with warm and welcoming service and a comfortable local
atmosphere. This location also offers a full range of catering services.
The phone number
is (269) 323-0037 and the fax is (269) 492-7219. The email is pickle50@spicypickle.net.
Hours are Monday - Thursday 11:00 am - 9:00 pm, Friday and Saturday 11:00
am - 10 pm, and Sunday 11:00 am - 8:00 pm.
Marc Geman, CEO
of Spicy Pickle Franchising, Inc., commented: "We are very pleased to open
our first restaurant in Michigan which marks the 14th state to have a Spicy
Pickle(TM) restaurant. We have pre-sold an additional nine stores in Michigan
and efforts are underway to secure premier locations with high-volume traffic
to open these additional stores as soon as possible. We are optimistic
that our concept will be overwhelmingly accepted in this region and anticipate
continued expansion throughout Michigan.
"Additionally,
the franchisee in Michigan is a well organized previous owner of other
restaurant concepts and has the entire infrastructure in place to operate
and market the territory which includes Grand Rapids, Lansing, East Lansing,
Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo. These areas meet our demographics which include
large daytime populations and administrative and professional concentrations
particularly around the major universities located there."
About Spicy Pickle(TM):
Founded in 1999,
Spicy Pickle Franchising, Inc. (OTC BB:SPKL.OB) serves high quality meats
and fine artisan breads, baked fresh daily, along with a wide choice of
eight different cheeses, twenty-two different toppings, and fourteen proprietary
spreads to create healthy and delicious panini and sub sandwiches with
flavors from around the world. As a leading "fast-casual" concept, Spicy
Pickle(TM) offers menu items that are far beyond traditional fast food
-- but without the price point of casual dining. The hallmark of a Spicy
Pickle(TM) restaurant is quality, service and an enjoyable atmosphere.
The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with restaurants open
or under construction across 16 states and many more in development nationwide.
To find out more about Spicy Pickle (OTC BB:SPKL.OB), visit our website
at www.spicypickle.com/.
Forward-Looking
Statements:
Certain statements
in this press release, including statements regarding the number of restaurants
we intend to open, are forward-looking statements. We use words such as
"anticipate," "believe," "could," "should," "estimate," "expect," "intend,"
"may," "predict," "project," "target," and similar terms and phrases, including
references to assumptions, to identify forward-looking statements. The
forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information
available to us as of the date any such statements are made and we assume
no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those described in the statements. These risks
and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following: factors
that could affect our ability to achieve and manage our planned expansion,
such as the availability of a sufficient number of suitable new restaurant
sites and the availability of qualified franchisees and employees; risks
relating to our expansion into new markets; the risk of food-borne illnesses
and other health concerns about our food products; changes in the availability
and costs of food; changes in consumer preferences, general economic conditions
or consumer discretionary spending; the impact of federal, state or local
government regulations relating to our franchisees and employees, and the
sale of food or alcoholic beverages; the impact of litigation; our ability
to protect our name and logo and other proprietary information; the potential
effects of inclement weather; the effect of competition in the restaurant
industry; and other risk factors described from time to time in our SEC
reports.
Contact:
Investor Relations
Contact:
Pamela A. Solly
Cirrus Financial
Communications, LLC
(720) 489-4912
Source: Spicy
Pickle Franchising, Inc. |
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Updated: 3:10 pm PST (23:10 GMT), November 20, 2008
