Bob Evans Farms Inc. (BOBE) increased its dividend in Nov 2009 by 12.5% and also announced further stock repurchases of up to million shares as the company felt confident in its financial strategy going into 2010. The company is expected to report fiscal third quarter 2010 results on Feb 9.

Bob Evans Farms operates restaurants under the Bob Evan's and Mimi Cafe brands across the country. It also distributes pork sausage products under the Bob Evans and Owen brands.

Since I last reviewed the company in June 2009, it has surprised on estimates the next two quarters and now has a surprise streak of 4 beats in a row.

The company is being hit hard as consumers pull back on eating out. In the fiscal second-quarter 2010, reported in early Nov 2009, restaurant net sales fell 3.3% compared to the year ago quarter with same-store sales at Bob Evans

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We are visiting the Retail-Restaurants industry for a second consecutive day, as shares of The Steak n Shake Company (SNS) have advanced more than 11%. (Tuesday's top performer was Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (RT), which announced a fiscal fourth-quarter earnings surprise of 40% yesterday.)

< ?DART(15);?> SNS recently announced some encouraging sales figures for its fiscal third quarter, which has sparked today's gain while pushing volume well above its daily average to around 370,000 shares. The company's average volume is about 195,000.

There are 4 other companies from this industry on today's 223-stock Zacks #1 Rank List: Bob Evans Farms, Inc. (BOBE), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL), DineEquity, Inc. (DIN) and O'Charley's, Inc. (CHUX).

Same-Store Sales Gain 5%

On Tuesday, SNS announced that customer traffic for its fiscal third quarter, which ended June 2009, gained 13.4%, which

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Shares of Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (RT) have gained more than 10% ahead of its fiscal fourth-quarter report, which is scheduled for later today.

This Zacks #1 Rank Top Performer is moving on much heavier-than-normal volume of 1.2 million, compared to the daily average of 636,000.

RT is 1 of 6 companies from the Retail-Restaurants industry on today's Zacks #1 Rank List. (There are 224 stocks on the list today.) The other 5 companies are Bob Evans Farms, Inc. (BOBE), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL), DineEquity, Inc. (DIN), O'Charley's, Inc. (CHUX) and The Steak n Shake Company (SNS).

Reporting Later Today

RT is scheduled to report after the bell today. At the moment, analysts expect 20 cents per share in its fiscal fourth-quarter. In the year-ago quarter, RT earned 27 cents.

The consensus

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Bob Evans Farms Inc.'s (BOBE) share price has entered into oversold territory with a stochastic value of 19.92. The Zacks #1 Rank ("Strong Buy") stock has topped the consensus forecast in 3 out of last 4 quarters with an average surprise of 17.68%, or 7 cents per share. Moreover, the consensus estimate for the year ending April 2010 has increased by 41 cents over the past month to $2.21 per share.

"BOBE" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

There are 6 companies from the retail-restaurants industry on today's 223-stock Zacks #1 Rank List, and O'Charley's Inc. (CHUX) is leading the way with a gain of approximately 5%. That gain is more than enough to make this multi-concept restaurant company a top-performing Zacks #1 Rank stock during what looks to be a very sluggish session for the market.

< ?DART(15);?> Volume for CHUX is still below average at 178,000 shares, compared to the usual 227,000.

The other 5 companies from this industry on the list are Bob Evans Farms, Inc. (BOBE), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (CBRL), DineEquity, Inc. (DIN), Ruth's Hospitality Group, Inc. (RUTH) and The Steak n Shake Company (SNS).

Earnings Estimates

Two months ago, analysts were expecting CHUX to lose 20 cents per share for this year. However, the expectation is for

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Highlighted stocks include Conn's, Inc. (...

Shares of Bob Evans Farms Inc. (BOBE) surged more than 15% today as fourth-quarter earnings of 69 cents topped the consensus estimate by 30 cents.

The owner of its namesake restaurants said yesterday evening that total revenue dipped 1% to $431 million.

Total same-store sales declined 3.1%, as same-store sales fell 1.6% at Bob Evans restaurants and 7.1% at Mimi's Café.

However, the company was able to reduce its labor and food costs by deploying "new labor management systems" and through "effective supply chain management."

Bob Evans also indicated that it expects fiscal 2010 sales to grow between 1.5% and 2%.

The full-year average forecast has moved lower by 3 cents over the past week to $1.80 per share. However, the better-than-expected quarterly profit could result in positive revisions from analysts over the next several weeks.

BOBE, a Zacks #3 Rank ("Hold") stock, is trading on extraordinarily high

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

3com Corp (COMS) Abington Bancorp Inc (ABBC) Allion Healthcare Inc (ALLI) Ameristar Casinos Inc (ASCA) ARM Holdings Plc (ARMH) Arris Group Inc (ARRS) ATS Medical Inc (ATSI) Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones (BLX) Bob Evans Farms Inc (BOBE) Caribou Coffee Company Inc (CBOU) Carrols Restaurant Group Inc (TAST) Chart Industries Inc (GTLS) Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp (CDE) Comcast Corp (CMCSK) Concurrent Computer Corp (CCUR) Corinthian Colleges Inc (COCO) Cyberonics Inc (CYBX) Diamond Foods Inc (DMND) DineEquity Inc (DIN) Dresser-Rand Group Inc (DRC) eHealth Inc (EHTH) El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (EPB) Encore Capital Group Inc (ECPG) Entropic Communications Inc (ENTR) Federal Signal Corp (FSS) Furniture Brands International Inc (FBN) Genoptix ...

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