Dunkin' Brands Upgraded To Neutral Following In-line Checks At Longbow

As previously reported, Longbow analyst Alton Stump upgraded Dunkin' Brands (DNKN) to Neutral from Underperform after his conversations with U.S. franchisees lead him to believe the company's Q2 same-store sales rose 0.5-1.0%, which would be in-line with the consensus view and slightly better than his prior forecast for them to have been flat with last year.

However, he added that the "still tepid" same-store sales growth likely means the coffee company lost share, especially to McDonald's (MCD), in the U.S. during Q2.