Top 5 Restaurant Companies To Invest In 2014

There's never a dull week on Wall Street. Let's go over some of the news that will shape the week to come.

Monday
The first trading day of the week kicks off with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) reporting quarterly results in the morning. After a decade of smooth and consistent store-level growth, monthly comps have been mixed since last October. The world's largest restaurant operator probably hopes that pushing up its Monopoly promotion to summer instead of autumn will help drive sales in the coming weeks, but we'll see what the Big Mac daddy is willing to share on Monday.

Tuesday
Exact Sciences (NASDAQ: EXAS  ) steps up in the morning with fresh financials, but don't hold out for a profit. This is a molecular diagnostics company that's still early in the process of tackling colorectal cancer. If investors are eager for more information, Exact Sciences is hosting its annual shareholder meeting two days later.

Wednesday
8x8 (NASDAQ: EGHT  ) reports on Wednesday. The provider of PBX telephony, video conferencing, and other Web-based communication services has been getting corporations to ditch their old-school telecommunications services for 8x8's more cost effective Web-based offerings. It's been an easy sell, and customer churn is at a historic low.

Hot Solar Stocks To Buy For 2015: Ignite Restaurant Group Inc (IRG)

Ignite Restaurant Group, Inc., incorporated on February 4, 2002, operates two restaurant brands, Joe's Crab Shack (Joe's) and Brick House Tavern + Tap (Brick House). The Company�� Joe's Crab Shack and Brick House Tavern + Tap operate in a diverse set of markets across the United States. Joe's Crab Shack is a national chain of casual seafood restaurants serving a variety of seafood items, with an emphasis on crab. Brick House Tavern + Tap is a casual restaurant brand that provides guests a gastro pub experience by offering a blend of menu items. As of December 31, 2012, the Company owned and operated 144 restaurants in 33 states. In September 2013, Ignite Restaurant Group Inc announced the opening of its newest Joe's Crab Shack restaurant, located in Newark, New Jersey.

Joe's Crab Shack

The Company�� Joe's Crab Shack offers an outdoor patio for guests to enjoy eating and drinking and a children's playground. Joe's also has many locations that are located on waterfront property. Interior design elements include a nautical, vacation theme to invoke memories of beach vacations and a genuine crab shack experience. Joe's Crab Shack restaurants have over 200 seats. Many of the Company�� restaurants also include a small gift shop where guests can purchase souvenirs to commemorate their dining experience. Joe's Crab Shack also leverages its crab-forward menu with other crab items, including Made-From-Scratch Crab Cakes, Crab Nachos and Crazy-Good Crab Dip. In addition to its core crab-focused menu, Joe's also offers a range of entrees featuring a variety of seafood, including the Get Stuffed Snapper, Surf 'N Turf Burger and The Big Hook Up, as well as a range of traditional seafood entrees like the Fisherman's Platter. Joe's also offers several out of water options, such as Pan Fried Cheesy Chicken and Whiskey Smoked Ribs. In addition, alcoholic beverages include the Shark Bite, Category 5 Hurricane and Mason Jar cocktails emerging as guests' top choices. Joe's menu inc! ludes more than 29 items made with either Queen, Snow, Dungeness or King Crabs sourced from government regulated and sustainable fisheries. Its menu offers 14 appetizers, including Made-From-Scratch Crab Cakes, Crab Nachos and Crazy-Good Crab Dip, and over 50 entrees, including Steampots, Crab in a Bucket, Skillet Paella, Stuffed Snapper and out of water options like Whiskey Smoked Ribs.

Brick House Tavern + Tap

The Company�� Brick House's interior decor includes custom lighting, dark mahogany woods, open sight lines, high definition television (HD TVs), and an inviting fireplace. In addition to a traditional dining room and bar area, Brick House also offers large communal tables and a section of leather recliners positioned in front of large HD TVs, where guests receive their own TV tray for dining. Outdoor seating is also available on the patio or around an open fire pit at nearly all locations. Both food and beverages are served by personable and engaging service staff. The typical Brick House restaurant is approximately 8,500 square feet and averages approximately 250 seats, which includes both traditional tables and seating options. Brick House offers its guests a selection of contemporary tavern food. Brick House's menu includes 17 appetizers and over 53 entrees. Handcrafted appetizers include Deviled Eggs, Meatloaf Sliders, Brick Pizza, Meat and Cheese Board and Fried Stuffed Olives. Brick House offers an array of burgers, including The Kobe, which is hand formed from American Wagyu beef. Guests can also choose from a selection of homemade entrees, such as Drunken Chops, BBQ Baby Backs, Chicken & Waffles, and its Prime Rib Sandwich. In addition, Brick House's Brick Burgers, include the Gun Show Burger and the Black & Bleu Burger. Brick House's beverage selection includes imported and domestic beers along with hand-pulled cask beer. All Brick House restaurants have a bar that supports a variety of liquor drinks, wine and beer cocktails like the Shandy and Bee Sting, a! s well as! specialty cocktails like the Dark & Stormy, Moscow Mule and The Zombie.

The Company competes with Red Lobster, Bonefish Grill, Landry's Seafood, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, BJ's Restaurants, Yard House, Cheesecake Factory, Bravo Brio and Buffalo Wild Wings, Applebee's, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, Texas Roadhouse and Outback Steakhouse.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Margins matter. The more Ignite Restaurant Group (Nasdaq: IRG  ) keeps of each buck it earns in revenue, the more money it has to invest in growth, fund new strategic plans, or (gasp!) distribute to shareholders. Healthy margins often separate pretenders from the best stocks in the market. That's why we check up on margins at least once a quarter in this series. I'm looking for the absolute numbers, so I can compare them to current and potential competitors, and any trend that may tell me how strong Ignite Restaurant Group's competitive position could be.

• [By Victor Selva]

  The firm is currently Zacks Rank # 3 - Hold, and it also has a longer-term recommendation of ��nderperfom.��For investors looking for a Zacks Rank # 1 ��Strong Buy, Ignite Restaurant Group Inc. (IRG) and The Wendy's Company (WEN) could be the options.

Top 5 Restaurant Companies To Invest In 2014: Burger King Worldwide Inc (BKW)

Burger King Worldwide, Inc., incorporated on April 2, 2012, is a fast food hamburger restaurant, under the Burger King brand. The Company generates revenues from three sources: franchise revenues, consisting primarily of royalties based on a percentage of sales reported by franchise restaurants and fees paid by franchisees; property income from properties that it leases or subleases to franchisees, and retail sales at Company restaurants. In September 2012, it sold 41 Company-owned BURGER KING restaurants in Singapore to Rancak Selera Sdn Bhd. As of December 31, 2012, it owned or franchised a total of 12,997 restaurants in 86 countries and United States territories. In April 2013, it announced the sale of Burger King Restaurants of Canada (BKRC), including 94 Company owned BURGER KING restaurants in the Canada market to Redberry Investments Corp.

The Company operates in the FFHR category of the quick service restaurant (QSR), segment of the restaurant industry. In the United States, the QSR segment is the segment of the restaurant industry and has demonstrated steady growth over a long period of time. The Company launched four new menu platforms (salads, wraps, smoothies and desserts) and expanded its chicken, coffee and ancillary menu platforms. It has established a data driven marketing process, which is focused on driving restaurant sales and traffic, while targeting a broader consumer base with more inclusive messaging to reach women, parties with children and seniors.

United States and Canada (U.S. and Canada)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 7,293 franchise restaurants and 183 Company restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. During the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company refranchised 752 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, bringing the region to 98% franchised. During the year ended December 31, 2012, it also continued to implement its Four Pillars strategy to improve comparable sales growth and franchise profitability by enhancing its Menu, Marke! ting Communications, Image, and Operations.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 2,989 franchise restaurants and 132 Company restaurants in EMEA. While in Germany continues with 684 restaurants as of December 31, 2012, Turkey and Russia are two of its growing markets with net openings of 78 restaurants and 47 restaurants, respectively, during the year ended December 31, 2012.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 1,290 franchise and 100 Company restaurants in LAC. In 2011, the Company entered into a joint venture agreement with Vinci Partners for Brazil and granted franchise and development rights to the joint venture. The Company received a minority stake and board seats in the joint venture without deploying its own capital.

Asia Pacific (APAC)

As of December 31, 2012, the Company had 1,007 franchise and 3 Company restaurants in APAC. As of December 31, 2012,the Company had 357 restaurants in Australia. It contributed 44 Company restaurants in China. In September 2012, the Company sold 38restaurants to Rancak Selera, the Burger King franchisee in Malaysia.

The Company competes with McDonald�� Corporation, Wendy�� Company, Carl�� Jr., Jack in the Box and Sonic.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Burger King Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: BKW) is in the boring fast food business. With all of the targeted wage pressures around fast food workers, with all the health pushback, and with fierce competition, you might just assume that Burger King would be selling off with the broad market. Still, shares hit a new all-time post-IPO high of $24.57 and closed up 1.5% at $24.34 on Friday. The stock price is even more than $1 over the consensus analyst price target. Burger King shares are up 6.5% so far in 2014, and the stock is up 50% from the end of 2012. And the stock keeps rising.

Top 5 Restaurant Companies To Invest In 2014: Noodles & Co (NDLS)

Noodles & Company, incorporated on December 19, 2002, is a casual restaurant concept offering lunch and dinner. The Company offers noodle and pasta dishes, staples of many cuisines, with the goal of delivering fresh ingredients and flavors globally under one roof from Pad Thai to Mac & Cheese. The Company�� globally inspired menu includes a variety of cooked-to-order dishes, including noodles and pasta, soups, salads and sandwiches, which are served on china by its friendly team members.

As of May 28, 2013, including the 16 Company owned restaurants and one franchise restaurant opened in 2013. The Company opened 39 new company owned restaurants and six franchise restaurants. In 2012, the Company began using Your World Kitchen to describe the breadth of its offering and its customers' dining experience.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Daniel Sparks]

  With shares more than doubling in just a few days, Noodles & Company's� (NASDAQ: NDLS  ) �IPO was nothing short of euphoric. But is it all fluff? In the video below, Fool contributor Daniel Sparks homes in on the�IPO, exploring the company's bullish valuation. Is Noodles & Company already overpriced?

Top 5 Restaurant Companies To Invest In 2014: Planet Platinum Ltd (PPN)

Planet Platinum Limited is an Australia-based company engaged in the operation of Showgirls Bar 20 and the on-going rental of property in Elsternwick. The Company operates in two segments: hospitality and entertainment and property rental businesses. The Company�� hospitality and entertainment segment comprises operations of Showgirls Bar 20 in Melbourne and is engaged in the nightclub through the provision of beverages and adult entertainment. Property segment comprise maintaining of rental property at Home Street, Elsternwick. The Company continues to receive lease rentals from its Home Street property. The investment property is located at 12 Home Street, Elsternwick Victoria. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Tabitha Jean Naylor]

  Americans consume a lot of chicken. It estimated that Americans consume about 81 pounds of poultry per year, per capita. With there being upwards of 310 million people living in the United States, it is no wonder why poultry production is big business. Two of the biggest names in poultry production are Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) and Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ: PPN).