First and foremost we wanted to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year and thank you for your continued interest in our research. While there was plenty to be pleased about from a...
READ MORE >As we approach year end it seems like a natural process for most investors to evaluate what they got right and what they were wrong about over the past 12-months. We are no different. While...
READ MORE >This time we really mean it… After a number of false starts, misdirected rumors, and management mis-steps (we’re of the belief that at some point in the past 3-years there was the potential for a traditional network launch), it...
READ MORE >The point of sale (POS) terminal/credit card acceptance device. In the United States the hardware has become somewhat of an afterthought in the broader point of sale experience at best and at worst a PCI/EMV compliance...
READ MORE >“On the cost reduction efforts….As far as opportunities going forward there aren't a ton of opportunities right now, so we're not throwing another target out there, we're not throwing another bogey out there right now.” 10/24/13 Kevin Modany,...
READ MORE >North American diners seated per restaurant is for OPEN shareholders “the one metric to rule them all” as far as stock price action is concerned. In 2012 when diners seated per restaurant in North America slowed, OPEN shares struggled...
READ MORE >Tick, tick, tick….. From where we sit, it certainly feels like the walls are closing in on COCO as the company’s weak enrollment results, shrinking EBITDA generation, tenuous liquidity position, and...
READ MORE >It all sounds so intoxicating doesn’t it? To company management (and presumably bulls on the stock) Trulia is a leading rapidly growing mobile based residential real estate search platform...
READ MORE >Only in this environment might some people view an 10% move in a stock as a “relief”, but that is certainly how we feel today with ESI. That’s not to say our conviction in our short thesis has wavered in any...
READ MORE >“It’s real the pain you feel, you trust, you must confess Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you?”- Foo FightersOften wrong, never in doubt…. If we could use...
READ MORE >“There’s something brewing here that really makes me think that the people in this room need to rethink their role. Some of you[MLS representatives] may be in denial. You don’t know that there’s a...
READ MORE >The purpose of this report is to address several critical questions surrounding MCRS and the company’s future growth prospects. In general, we would argue that most of these queries aren’t part of the general...
READ MORE >It’s not every day that the CEO of a publicly traded company offers us the opportunity to put him in a “hammerlock” if the company does not achieve its stated financial objectives. WWE management has expressed an incredible...
READ MORE >We watched the stock price action in COCO over the past two weeks with considerable befuddlement and consternation. After all, the stock rallied more than 25% following the announcement that the Department of Education had preliminarily sided with the...
READ MORE >“Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”Morgan Freeman (Red), Shawshank RedemptionWe are not alone in this. There’s no shortage of short sellers who lament the action in...
READ MORE >This is something we obviously did not see coming, but based on the action in WPO shares over the past 6-months perhaps someone else did. In retrospect, we should have given greater attention to...
READ MORE >In another market environment things might be different. Marking the fifth time in the past three years, OPEN missed consensus revenue expectations for 2Q13. On top of that, the company lowered guidance for FY13 substantially. Panic? Not exactly. Had the...
READ MORE >In what can only be described as a surprise to the marketplace, OPEN announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire IACI’s Rezbook. As part of the deal Urbanspoon, a leading mobile...
READ MORE >“There’s a party going on right here, a celebration to last through the years….”Kool & the GangIn retrospect it all seems so simple doesn’t it? Let’s play a short game of check this...
READ MORE >In a vacuum, there might be legitimate cause for excitement. After 11 consecutive quarters during which ESI reported a YOY decline in new student starts the company was finally able to identify an elixir to its enrollment woes – aggressive tuition discounting...
READ MORE >“And you all know how the story go….Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good…”- Run-DMCWith all due respect to Monsieurs Simmons, McDaniels, and Mizell we doubt that they...
READ MORE >And so it begins….Two and a half years ago we introduced OPEN as a short idea predicated on four principal tenets: At its core, OPEN provides a “solution without a problem”. OPEN’s ERB technology and...
READ MORE >Earlier this week, the American Arbitration Association ruled on a dispute between a former student of CECO’s California School of Culinary Arts (since rebranded the Le Cordon Bleu College of...
READ MORE >In a move that received little fanfare this past February, ESI’s board of directors established a short term element to the company’s compensation policy for senior management that could be payable in...
READ MORE >It seems to happen all of the time in growth industries, particularly among small and mid-cap companies. A leader in said growth industry goes public, creates a successful track record, which engenders investor enthusiasm about the company and...
READ MORE >Yesterday we had the opportunity to tour the floor at the National Restaurant Association’s 2013 annual conference. We wanted to pass along some key observations from our time in the exhibit...
READ MORE >For a long time we lamented the lack of “appreciation” among investors for the strength of XOXO’s key franchises, the company’s robust free cash flow prospects, and the tremendous growth potential of its...
READ MORE >Almost a year to the day from when we first introduced Z as a long idea, we’re closing it out with a 72% gain. It’s been a wild ride to say the least. Was it really only 6-months ago when the stock ticked $23.00 following...
READ MORE >Seriously, who wouldn’t love this business? In 4Q12, OPEN’s growth in diners seated per restaurant collapsed, but the company had healthy net additions in restaurant clients, stability in NA cover...
READ MORE >A few weeks ago we published a lengthy report which outlined some of the more troubling competitive developments for OPEN in North America. We maintain our view that the company is on the cusp of a major deceleration in many of its key...
READ MORE >SELL
$50
LONG
$110
SELL/SHORT
$230
SELL/SHORT
$55
LONG
$70
SELL/SHORT
$4
SELL/SHORT
$45
SHORT
$18
SELL/SHORT
$5
SELL/SHORT
$42
LONG
$75
SELL/SHORT
$50
SELL/SHORT
$50
LONG
$5.50
SHORT
$50
SHORT
$28
LONG
$65
LONG
$37
PAIR TRADE
$10
PAIR TRADE
$30
LONG
$35
SHORT
$35
SELL/SHORT
$10
SHORT
$101
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$0
SHORT
$9
SHORT
$0
PAIR - LONG BGG/SHORT TTC
25%
SHORT
$14.00
SHORT
$22
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$20
SHORT
$31
SHORT
$35
SHORT
$30
PAIR - LONG KNL/SHORT MLHR
25%
SHORT
$100
LONG
$8
LONG
$20
SHORT
$22
PAIR - LONG CSGP/SHORT LOOP
40%
LONG
$35
SHORT
$275
SHORT
$0