Panera Bread

I love Panera! Their stuff is delicious.

But that isn't enough to get them an entry in Proxy Partisans. There has to be some corporate tumult. As, indeed, there is.

Shamrock Activist Value Fund is demanding that the company declassify its staggered board, separate the roles of chairman and chief executive, and expand the board to include new members. "Ah, an' the Shamrock fund itself be demanding that Panera kiss the blarney stone, sure'n."

Panera is listed on Nasdaq, with the sticker symbol: PNRA. A quick perusal of its stock price shows me no obvious reason for dissatisfaction. It has held its value over the last year, even advancing a bit -- which is impressive in the present climate.

In percentage terms, it is now valued at 112% of what it was a year ago. The Nasdaq-100 index is at 93% of where IT was. The Dow Jones is at only 85%.

This doesn't mean the stock couldn't do better, of course. This does seem to be an odd time for Shamrock to launch a challenge. Panera held its annual meeting in May. So why raise these issues in July? I'll look into it, and see if I can tell you more.