Store Openings Continue for Jamba

Consistent with its strategy of enhancing international presence, Jamba Juice Company, a subsidiary of Jamba Inc. (JMBA - Snapshot Report), recently announced the opening of its 30th franchised Jamba store in the Philippines. Apart from this new store, the company’s has already opened 29 franchised locations in international markets over the past five months -- including 20 smoothie shops in South Korea, 7 stores in Canada and 2 in the Philippines.

The new Jamba store is located in 407,000-square SM Mall of Asia -- the 2nd largest mall in the Philippines, 3rd largest shopping mall in Asia and the 4th largest shopping mall in the world. The mall is located in Bay City, Pasay City of the Philippines. It is in close proximity to other important locations like the SM Central Business Park, the Manila Bay and the southern end of EDSA.

SM Mall of Asia is the one of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines. Some of the special attractions of the mall are San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre and SM Science Discovery Center SM Mall of Asia Ice Skating Rink. The mall has average foot traffic of about 200,000 people daily.

Jamba is exploring every opportunity to transform itself from a made-to-order smoothie retail chain to a healthy and active international lifestyle brand. Jamba expects to open around 320 stores internationally in the next 10 years in partnership with its current international franchise partners. Moreover, the company successfully surpassed its goal of opening 10-15 international stores in 2012 by almost doubling its store openings.

In addition to this, Jamba is also active on menu innovation to boost its quality offerings. Recently, the company introduced a new fruit and dairy smoothie for schools. The naturally sugared beverage is launched as an alternative for schools that have banned sugary soft drinks.

Emeryville, California-based Jamba owns and franchises Jamba Juice stores and also operates as a restaurant retailer of specialty beverages and various food products across the globe. As of April 3, 2012, it had 773 stores, including 305 company-owned and operated stores and 444 franchise-operated stores in the United States, as well as 24 stores on the international front.

Jamba, which competes with the likes of Starbucks Corporation (SBUX - Analyst Report) and Caribou Coffee Company Inc. (CBOU), is scheduled to release its second quarter 2012 earnings on August 15. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second quarter is pegged at 7 cents per share.

We presently have a long-term Outperform recommendation on the stock. It also carries a Zacks #2 Rank (short-term Buy rating).