Wendy's Shows Signs of Finding the Beef By Jonathan Heller About this article: As I was gallivanting around New York City yesterday, licking my Phillies-vs-Yankees wounds, running into Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins in Starbucks, spending time at TheStreet.com and conducting various business meetings, one of my favorite ideas, Wendy's/Arby's , was reporting third-quarter earnings. There were no great surprises in terms of the top and bottom lines: total revenue came in just under expectations at $903.2 million and earnings from continuing ops came in at $.06 per share, meeting expectations. Once again, however, that excluded some impairment charges and merger-related expenses. I, for one, will be glad when that's all behind us -- it still makes for difficult comparisons. Wendy's company-owned restaurants reported same-store sales down 1.4%, but franchised stores did better, up 0.4%. Overall, this is not too bad. One of the most positive aspects of the quarter was the continuing improvement in restaurant margins, which grew 400 basis... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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