Out Fox The $treet

Summary Potbelly continues a trend of beating estimates while the stock bumps along the bottom. Despite the large stock decline after irrational trading following an IPO, the stock trades at an exceptionally large forward PE ratio. Investors need to keep the stock on a watch list due to the long-term growth potential, but one shouldn't expect the stock to rebound now. After writing about Noodles & Company (NASDAQ: NDLS ) earlier in the week, this article focuses on Potbelly (NASDAQ: PBPB ). Both restaurant concepts had hot IPOs in 2013 and share similar less-than returns, though Potbelly has traded better than Noodles over the last 9 months. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No stocks mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Something just doesn't appear right with Noodles & Company ( NASDAQ: NDLS     ) . The hot IPO from the summer of 2013 surged to over $52.50 on the promises of a strong restaurant concept growing from a regional chain to a massive national operation, but the reported financials don't deliver on that promise. The fast-casual restaurant chain that focuses on noodles and pasta dishes had investors envisioning a Chipotle Mexican Grill ( NYSE: CMG     ) type of story, but the numbers never added up. The company only operates 372 systemwide locations in 29 states, offering the long-term potential growth that initially excited investors similar to fellow hot IPO Potbelly ( NASDAQ: PBPB     ) . At a fraction of the size, though, neither chain is able to match the growth of Chipotle, which has a vastly larger network of restaurants. Do these companies have the ability to eventually grow into their valuation and provide growth opportunitie...