Packer16 Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 A cheap Mexican group of restaurants for our micro-cap and restaurant fans. It sells for only 1.8x EBITDA and 3.1x FCF. They over expanded in the 2000s and had to reduce their footprint to survive as revenues and margins declined. They have paid down debt (down to $1.8 million including perferreds) and closed down underperforming restaurants. The current margins have recovered to the mid 5%s. The value per location is cheap at $137,000 for a full size restaurant and probably below replacement cost. The book value of the common is $9.0 million with a market cap of $4.9 million. The book value has been tested for impairment so the fair value is closer to book than market value. They operate 50 restaurants and franchise 11. They are located in the Houston area and have been written up in VIC at a much higher price. The downside is lack of liquidity as it is a delisted pink sheet with financial reporting on their website. Packer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinitee00 Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Amazing that this was trading in the 20-30cc range last September. Some board members may already have a position. I believe DTEJD1997 also attended their last annual meeting. For those interested, OTC Adventures blog post is below http://otcadventures.com/?p=393 Oddballstocks/Nate also wrote it up a few months back http://www.oddballstocks.com/2012/12/cheaper-than-burrito-mexican-restaurants.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Packer16 Posted April 23, 2013 Author Share Posted April 23, 2013 But given the liquidity only 2,900 shares traded below 0.75 but you could have gotten all you wanted @0.75. Packer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Hey all: CASA is one of my favorite nano-cap stocks, as I have been at many of their locations and did indeed attend the last annual meeting. Well more than 2800 shares traded below $.75/share. I know that for a fact.... There were some shares that traded around $.20/share, but not many. The crazy thing is....the turn around was well under way, and these trades were maybe at around 1X earnings and less than 10% of book value. Whoever sold those simply was not paying attention and made a mistake. Management has been shutting down underperforming locations, and has raised equity (preferred offering), and has significantly paid down debt. The untold story here is that the company has made a turn around and is a substantially different company than it was 18 months ago. I a good slug of my shares around $1.65/share, I just could not help myself (more than a 3X in just over a year).... but I still hold a position and I'm watching this like a hawk. I'll be back in if I can get a good entry position. Another company that did not quite to the levels that CASA did is Meritage Hospitality (MHGU). I wish I could take all the credit myself, but it was "Whopper Investments" that alerted me to it. He runs a great website! Same for "OTC Adventures", "Oddball Stocks" and of course "Ragnar is a Pirate". I can't recommend those sites highly enough. They are true pioneers in the nano-cap segment and it is worth your time to go through their archives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Morris IV Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 What efforts are they putting towards gaining more franchisees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigatk Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I love that you were the only person to show up to their annual meeting in 7 years. Very interesting. I always learn a lot from reading writeups even if the stock has run up in the months since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukawa Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 I am truly curious. How do you even buy a delisted pink sheet stock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blainehodder Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 I am truly curious. How do you even buy a delisted pink sheet stock? 1) Type ticker in broker of choice 2) Buy stock using limit orders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpagano Posted June 28, 2013 Share Posted June 28, 2013 Any news coming out of the annual meeting yesterday? Someone really wants out this morning it looks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpagano Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Q2 numbers out for discussion: http://www.mexicanrestaurantsinc.com/webfm_send/93 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 hey all: Numbers look better vs. year over year period. It appears that debt has leveled off. I think they are building a company owned location. Why they are doing this, I'm not sure. Perhaps they got a great deal on the land. The price of the stock has moved up tremendously in the past 6 months. Still might be a good buy. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moustachio Posted August 10, 2013 Share Posted August 10, 2013 "I think they are building a company owned location. Why they are doing this, I'm not sure. Perhaps they got a great deal on the land." Is that why cash outflow for the most recent 6 month period was significantly higher than the previous year's period? If cash is used for debt paydown and then dividend or buyback this stock looks very compelling. If cash is plowed back into a marginal business then it is a pretty speculative buy IMO. It doesn't seem reasonable to think they are suddenly going to become great operators, so investing money into company owned locations isn't very good for shareholders. Simply looking at their margins and returns from yahoo finance statistics makes you shake your head at additional capital being spent in that fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTEJD1997 Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 so investing money into company owned locations isn't very good for shareholders. Simply looking at their margins and returns from yahoo finance statistics makes you shake your head at additional capital being spent in that fashion. Yes, you are probably right. HOWEVER, they are building the new location across the street from their old one. There is a possibility that they got a GREAT deal on the land. Could they have gotten the land for only $150k, and it worth $250k? I don't know, but it is a small possibility. That is the only way I could see this deal making sense. They got an opportunity to get heavily discounted land that they could move a store to at the end of it's lease. As a shareholder, I would prefer them to pay off/down debt to a level where they can tell the bank to "take a hike". Once that happens, use cash flow to initiate a dividend and maybe open 1-3 locations a year. They don't really need to be expanding. They need to be focusing on existing operations. Get them cash flowing, and get some of that to us shareholders! I would also prefer a dividend. Liquidity in this stock is thin enough already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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