Billionaire Ken Griffin Buffs Up on Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD): Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI), Brinker International, Inc. (EAT)

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Let’s look at some numbers
Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) does trade at the high end of the industry, with a price to earnings ratio of 28 times, however, the case can be made that Buffalo deserves this premium valuation:
Price to Earnings

Buffalo Wild Wings 28
Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) 17
Texas Roadhouse 19
Darden 14
The Cheesecake Factory 20
Part of that warranted valuation is driven by the company’s better than industry profitability and balance sheet, meanwhile, the company’s long-term growth rate is rather robust:
5-Year Expected EPS Growth Rate

Buffalo Wild Wings 19%
Brinker 14%
Texas Roadhouse 14%
Darden 7%
The Cheesecake Factory 15%
The balance sheet is robust given the company has no debt…
Debt Ratio

Buffalo Wild Wings 0%
Brinker 47%
Texas Roadhouse 7%
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) 43%
The Cheesecake Factory 47%
And its profitability is industry-tops:
EBITDA Margin

Buffalo Wild Wings 14.4%
Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) 13.4%
Texas Roadhouse 12.9%
Darden 13.5%
The Cheesecake Factory 12.3%
Buffalo appears to have impressive growth prospects and might be worth considering, especially considering food is a fundamental necessity, and as the economy shows signs of strengthening the number of people “eating out” should rise. Also, billionaire investor Steve Cohen of SAC Capital and “tiger cub” Patrick McCormack of Tiger Consumer Management agree with Griffin, as they are also Buffalo’s top hedge fund owners (see all hedge funds owning Buffalo).

The article Billionaire Ken Griffin Buffs Up on Buffalo Wild Wings originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Marshall Hargrave.

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