An investor need only read last week's second quarter earnings report to see that Ruby Tuesday (RT) is a company in transition. In just three months, the company:
- closed three of its smaller concepts, including the Marlin & Ray's seafood chain
- repurchased over $17 million of stock and $11.5 million worth of debt
- closed sale-leaseback transactions on five locations for $11.7 million
- added 10 million shares to its repurchase authorization
- and, to top it all off, named a new CEO to replace the man who founded the company some 40 years ago
Given the performance of the company -- and RT stock -- over the last few years, it had become clear that changes needed to...