Gabelli & Company Reiterates Hold Rating on Cracker Barrel

In a report published Wednesday, Gabelli & Company reiterated its Hold rating on Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

. Gabelli noted, “Given recent REIT-conversion (OpCo-PropCo separation) activity including announcements by Penn National Gaming, Gaylord Entertainment and Canadian food retailer Loblaw Companies Ltd., we want to highlight the underlying value in Cracker Barrel's owned real estate...While Cracker Barrel has stated that it is not interested in a REIT-conversion transaction and management also does not want to undertake a sale-leaseback (given low interest rates and cap rates in the high-single digits), in this note we highlight the arithmetic of a hypothetical REIT-conversion (OpCo-PropCo structure) as well as a sale-leaseback transaction.” Cracker Barrel Old Country Store closed on Tuesday at $61.86.