The other day at Cosi (Ticker: COSI), my stomach began to rumble after one of their $7 sandwiches failed to satisfy my mid-day hunger. With such high prices for so little food, I figured they must make a killing in profits. But, from their financials, it turns out their investors have been feeling a similar emptiness in their pockets. The company has not been profitable since they came public in 2002.

Let me put that in perspective.

Back in 2002, I still had braces, the current senior class was applying to Penn, and the freshman class was … well, still freshman. It is hard to fathom how someone could lose money from selling marshmallow S’mores and overpriced sandwiches for four years.

Perhaps a better indication of their woes can be found in the pages of our beloved Daily Pennsylvanian.All this week, the only things more ubiquitous than the names Baker and Finkelstein were $3 off coupons from Cosi–essentially 50 percent discounts on an entree.

These are not the makings of a stock I want to be in.

A better way to play Penn student’s love for over-priced salads is through Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (Ticker: CQB) Best known for their banana and fresh produce business, Chiquita owns the Fresh Express salads brand. Acquired a year ago, this line has maintained its leadership and should pay dividends in the future.

.A slew of bad news in the past weeks caused the market to overreact, sending prices of CQB stock plummeting from $16.84 to $12.50. Profits were hurt by regulations in the banana industry and a packaged produce category still reeling from the E.coli scare. Throw in a fine from the Department of Justice for paying off “terrorist” organizations in Colombia, and investors exited this stock faster than a late-night fire drill at Hill college house.

While I firmly believe in separating investing from politics, the activist within each of us can take comfort in knowing Chiquita was not funding terrorism, but rather protecting their business interests; arguably a disturbing yet necessary move when doing business in Latin America. The employees and products were threatened by the terrorists.

With all the bad news already incorporated into the price of the stock, look for shares to trade higher in the coming months as the investigation wraps up and the bagged-produce category recovers its strength.

Pick up some CQB shares and start clipping away those Cosi coupons. Unfortunately, the sales on both these items are for a limited time only.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.