Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRGI)
Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., a fast-casual restaurant franchise company yesterday announced a new CEO Richard Stockinger and also reported their fourth quarter and full year 2016 financial results. Fiesta reported fourth quarter profits of $2.4 million. Fiesta reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $0.27 per share which is exactly what analysts were expecting. Fiesta reported fourth quarter revenues of $171.3 million which fell short of analyst expectations of $176.3 million.
Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. Board Chair and CEO Comments
Board Chair Stacey Rauch said,
We are very pleased to welcome Rich Stockinger as Fiesta’s new CEO and President. Rich is a respected, results-driven industry veteran who understands the value of our Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana brands and has the skills and experience necessary to be a strong and effective leader in advancing our strategic initiatives at this critical juncture. Danny Meisenheimer’s material contributions over the past five years at Pollo Tropical and as recent Interim CEO and President make him the obvious choice to become COO of Fiesta and partner with Rich to lead operations across both brands. I would also like to welcome to our Board Paul Twohig, who brings extensive restaurant leadership and operating experience, and thank Jack Smith for his long-standing service as Chairman and continued leadership as a non-executive Director.
Richard Stockinger said,
The opportunity at Fiesta is extraordinary. The competitive positioning and potential upside of both Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana makes me optimistic about the future of the Company. I look forward to working closely with the Board, the rest of management and all of our dedicated team members to establish a comprehensive operating and growth plan that we can deliver as a cohesive unit. Business Wire
FRGI Technical Analysis
FRGI opened trading yesterday at $26.30 which was down from the previous day’s trading close of $26.35. Shares closed trading yesterday at $25.95 and spiked down after market to $22.00, equivalent to a 15% decrease from the closing price. Taking a look at the daily chart we can see that the last time FRGI traded below these levels we have to go all the way back to August 3rd, 2016 when it traded at $21.93.
Taking a closer look at the daily chart we can see that before the spike down FRGI had already been in an overall downward trend dating back to December 27th, 2016 when it traded at $30.50. FRGI has a float of 26.12 million shares and traded 2.88 times the normal daily trading volume on Monday. For trading purposes, I would like to see FRGI open trading on Tuesday below $23.30 and if it does I would be looking to take a short position at the bell. My stop loss would be $0.25 from my entry position fearing anything more than that and the stock would start to fill in the gap down.
Company Profile
Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and franchises fast-casual restaurants. It operates its fast-casual restaurants under the Pollo Tropical and Taco Cabana brand names. The company’s Pollo Tropical restaurants offer various Caribbean inspired food, and Taco Cabana restaurants offer a selection of Mexican food. As of January 3, 2016, it had 155 company-owned Pollo Tropical restaurants, 162 company-owned Taco Cabana restaurants, and 35 franchised Pollo Tropical restaurants in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and Venezuela, as well as 6 franchised Taco Cabana restaurants in the U.S. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Addison, Texas.