	talking point wendy s international wen takeover speculation buoyed wendy s international inc s stock even after coca cola co took the fizz out of market rumors by denying it was an interested suitor wendy s retreated from an earlier high of and lost a point when coca cola ko said the rumors were untrue however wendy s remained up at on volume of more than three mln shares several analysts were skeptical of the rumors yet they said they could not conclude a takeover of the fast food restaurant chain was impossible wendy s declined comment on takeover rumors of all kinds yet a wendy s spokesman said the company was aware of a business week article which named coke as a potential suitor and which market sources said helped ignite the rumor mill market sources mentioned anheuser busch inc bud and pepsico inc pep as alternatives to coke as uirers neither of those companies would comment nor would the wendy s official it doesn t happen every day every week every month but its not unusual for us to be linked with those companies said denny lynch wendy s vice president of communications however lynch would not comment specifically on the current market rumors even before coke denied the rumors analysts had been skeptical of a takeover since atlanta based coke has stated it views fast food chains as customers and does not want to become a competitor to them i can t put another name on it said kidder peabody analyst jay freedman as vaguer rumors continued to hold up wendy s stock it very well could be someone s interested but freedman said he doesn t believe now is the right time for wendy s to be sold they re obviously having operational difficulties i ve always believed at the right price wendy s would consider an offer but i can t believe this is the right price at the right time freedman said if a transaction takes place the buyer s going to control the situation freedman said i just don t think there s anything going on i don t think it s worth much more than where it is said joseph doyle of smith barney analysts said wendy s has suffered largely from the burger wars between itself mcdonald s corp mcd and pillsbury co s psy burger king chain wendy s the third largest fast food hamburger chain in the u s lost about pct in same store sales last year analysts said wendy s also fumbled when it introduced a high priced breakfast which it has since withdrawn analysts said some analysts said the company should be bringing in new products but it is too soon to predict a significant turnaround there are analysts however who believe wendy s may be vulnerable to a takeover james murren of c j lawrence said wendy s could be worth to dlrs on a break up basis he said the company has improved its debt to equity ratio and wendy s owns a high percent of its own restaurants pct of they also have some attractive leaseholds on their restaurants murren said murren said that despite the downturn in sales last year wendy s real sales store for store turned upwards in the fourth quarter that was about the first time in seven quarters he said caroline levy of e f hutton also believes something could be going on with wendy s my gut feeling is something s going to happen i don t know what she said she estimated a takeover price would be at least dlrs per share one analyst speculated that coke became the rumored suitor because wendy s decided to sell coke at its fountains instead of pepsi wendy s is currently embroiled in litigation brought by pepsi which holds a contract with the company analysts said pepsi s soda is still sold in the wendy s restaurants reuter 
