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Food for Thought

Written by: Jonathan Heller 07/24/12 - 10:52 AM EDT
Tickers in this article: MCD WEN DENN

Second, I viewed Wendy's vast real estate holdings, which include the land and buildings for 643 locations, and the building only for another 487 locations, as an opportunity for the company, and as a valuable asset.

Third, I believed that the company was just one brilliant ad campaign away from re-establishing the brand with consumers.

Unfortunately, the company has simply not delivered, and the stock has all but traded sideways for the past three years. In fact, Wendy's has been one of the worst performing restaurant stocks, in the midst of a great run for many restaurant names.

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As for my original reasons for owning Wendy's, here's where I went wrong:

  • There's only so much that Nelson Peltz can do; he can't transform Wendy's into McDonald's(MCD) .
  • While there's value in the real estate, it is not being recognized in this environment and there are currently no efforts that I'm aware of to monetize that value.
  • The days of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas stepping in to right the ship and appear as the company's spokesperson are unfortunately behind us (Thomas passed away in 2002). The likelihood of a successful ad campaign to the tune of the "Where's the Beef" ads of the 1980s seem unlikely. The company just can't seem to create a buzz among consumers the way it used to.

    • Admitting investment mistakes can be helpful -- if you learn from them, that is.

    I have been fortunate with some other restaurant turnaround stories the past few years, including Denny's(DENN) , but will save that for another day.

    At the time of publication the author had a position in WEN.

    This article is commentary by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.

    Jonathan Heller, CFA, is president of KEJ Financial Advisors, his fee-only financial planning company. Jon spent 17 years at Bloomberg Financial Markets in various roles, from 1989 until 2005. He ran Bloomberg's Equity Fundamental Research Department from 1994 until 1998, when he assumed responsibility for Bloomberg's Equity Data Research Department. In 2001, he joined Bloomberg's Publishing group as senior markets editor and writer for Bloomberg Personal Finance Magazine, and an associate editor and contributor for Bloomberg Markets Magazine. In 2005, he joined SEI Investments as director of investment communications within SEI's Investment Management Unit.