I usually enjoy the write-ups in Barron's Stock Alert column. Yesterday was no exception when its authors published a solid article about the fast food chain The Wendy's Company $WEN. Not only is Wendy's my family's go-to fast food restaurant if we have to eat that stuff (it blows the doors off of Mickey D's $MCD & Burger King $QSR), it's stock is likely to turn out to be a great investment over the next year as well. A one-year chart of $WEN (blue) vs. the S&P 500 (red) (click to enlarge) As you can see, the recent selloff in the markets has not been kind to Wendy's stock. That's bad news if you have been a shareholder over the past year, but great news if you don't own the stock yet but are considering buying it. This is the Special Situation Investing News, so there obviously has to be some sort of catalyst or event that will cause Wendy's stock to rise. The catalyst here is the continued selling off of company-owned stores to franchisees. Franchising is great for restaurant chains because the asset-light franchise business model provides much higher returns on invested capital than physically owning stores. As an added bonus, companies that are converting from a company-owned to a franchised format get a nice infusion of cash as they sell locations off that they can use to buy back stock, or make some other shareholder-friendly move. This sort of conversion often serves as a catalyst that drives restaurants' stock prices significantly higher. Wendy's transition from 22% company-owned stores in 2012 to 13% today was a major contributing factor to the 90% rise in its stock over the same period. Wendy's has set a goal to lower its percentage of company-owned stored to only 5% by 2016. If the transition provides even half the move in the stock that it did the last time this happened investors will be jumping for joy. Wendy’s Is Set to Sizzle: Shares Undervalued 30% http://www.barrons.com/articles/wendys-is-set-to-s... . And Now for the rest of the Special Situation Investing News: Spinoffs Cree spinoff Wolfspeed to play major role in N.C. State's PowerAmerica http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash... Cree Decides Light Speed Is Too Slow, Goes Right To Wolfspeed For Power & RF Spinoff http://www.stockspinoffs.com/2015/09/03/cree-decid... Ventas spinoff Care Capital Properties $CCP acquires skilled-nursing facilities for $210 million http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150902/N... Bayer to List Polymer Business Covestro in 4th Quarter I.P.O. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/business/dealboo... Ferrari Spinoff Set to Hold Up Marchionne's Fiat-GM Merger Plan http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-04/... Baxalta Shows Rare Deal Discipline http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/02/baxalta-... The Fat Lady Has Sung On Baxalta’s Ariad Chase http://www.stockspinoffs.com/2015/09/02/the-fat-la... . SPACs Buyout barons like the sound of a blank check http://blogs.reuters.com/breakingviews/2015/09/02/... Pleasant Lake Partners Boosts Del Taco http://www.marketfolly.com/2015/09/pleasant-lake-p... . Thrift Conversions aka Demutualizations Not Much to See Here -- Except Profits http://realmoney.thestreet.com/articles/09/03/2015... . Merger Arb Columbus McKinnon Completes Acquisition of Magnetek http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/columbus-mckin... Syngenta Moves to Calm Disappointed Shareholders http://www.wsj.com/articles/syngenta-moves-to-calm... Orbitz: High-Risk Arb Opportunity Worth Closer Look After Tuesday Sell-Off http://seekingalpha.com/article/3485356-orbitz-hig... . REIT Conversion MGM REIT Conversion By Year End? http://seekingalpha.com/article/3488546-mgm-reit-c... . Investment Write-Ups SunEdison: Cash to the Rescue http://seekingalpha.com/article/3488386-sunedison-... RBC Bearings: Gaining Speed With Sargent http://seekingalpha.com/article/3487336-rbc-bearin... PIMCO High Income Fund - Next Stop, NAV http://seekingalpha.com/article/3485156-pimco-high... 4 REIT Gems That Mr. Market Is Ignoring http://seekingalpha.com/article/3486426-4-reit-gem... Interesting Event Driven idea: Calgon Carbon: SCOTUS Decision Overreaction Creates A Buying Opportunity http://seekingalpha.com/article/3482696-calgon-car... General Electric: Alstom Deal Approval Could Be A Positive Catalyst For GE's Stock http://seekingalpha.com/article/3486696-general-el... Distressed Preferred Stocks Part 2: Fannie Mae http://seekingalpha.com/article/3484906-distressed... Interesting. Berkshire Hathaway Nears Buybacks Levels http://seekingalpha.com/article/3485276-berkshire-... Valeant: A Detailed Look Inside a Dangerous Story Well Told – PART IV: The IRR Fallacy http://azvalue.blogspot.com/2015/08/valeant-detail... Voss' Canadian Small Cap Software Trifecta https://www.hvst.com/posts/49805-voss-canadian-sma... . Activist Investors MUST READ: Meet Patrick Walsh, The Do-It-Yourself Hedge Fund Activist You've Never Heard Of http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2015/07/29... Jana Partners target Qualcomm thinking of selling Vuforia augmented reality unit http://seekingalpha.com/news/2762796-report-qualco... Voss Issues Open Letter to the Board of Blucora https://www.hvst.com/posts/50057-voss-issues-open-... On Sale: Buy This Credit Card Processor Cheaper Than Ubben's ValueAct Capital http://www.streetinsider.com/13Fs/On+Sale%3A+Buy+T... Becker Drapkin Throws Support Behind Fuel Systems Solutions http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/becker-drapkin-t... Big happenings at Starboard Value target LSB Indistries $LXU. CEO steps down. This has to be a positive for this den of nepotism. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/lsb-industries-inc-a... Sessa Capital Pushes Back On Ashford Hospitality Prime http://activiststocks.com/blog/ashford-sessa-capit... Ashford Hospitality Upgraded on Sale Prospects http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2015/09/0... Activist Investing Daily: The Tom Sandell Show? http://seekingalpha.com/article/3487286-activist-i... Bill Ackman target Mondelez Shareholders Could Win Big if Company Cuts Costs http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/02/mondelez... . Whale Watching Philip Falcone, Former Head of Vast Fund, Tries a 3rd Act http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/business/dealboo... Charter: John Malone’s Return to The US Cable Industry | Punch Card Investing https://punchcardblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/04/cha... Battered Hedge Fund Fave SunEdison Jumps As CEO Promises Cash Flow By Year’s End http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2015/09/0... Hedge fund reinsurers hit by recent financial market volatility http://www.artemis.bm/blog/2015/09/02/hedge-fund-r... Ackman's Pershing Square hedge fund drops 9.2 percent in August http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ackmans-pershing-squ... On Sale: You Can Buy Dan Loeb's Latest $2 Billion Bet at an 8% Discount http://www.streetinsider.com/13Ds/On+Sale%3A+You+C... . Other Investing News Newcastle Announces Completion of $157 million Golf Debt Repurchase @ 90% of par http://finance.yahoo.com/news/newcastle-announces-... Mr. Market certainly likes this one, $BGS +12.8%. General Mills selling Green Giant to B&G Foods for $765 million http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/09/03/gen... HP seeks to sell cyber security unit TippingPoint http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/02/us-tippi... “Supersize” Fracking Could Keep Natural Gas Prices Low For Years http://finance.yahoo.com/news/supersize-fracking-c... Puerto Rico Power Authority’s Deal With Creditors Lifts Some Shares http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/02/puerto-r... ‘Star Wars’: A Force for Disney, Hasbro and Target http://www.barrons.com/articles/star-wars-a-force-... . Thanks for reading. 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