Risk-Adjusted Performance: A Sector Analysis of Restaurant Firms

This study examined the risk-adjusted performance of three restaurant sectors, namely full-service restaurants, economy/buffet restaurants, and fast-food restaurants. Three indexes—the Sharpe Index, the Treynor Index, and the Jensen Index—were derived to compare the performance of the three restaurant sectors for the period 1996-2000. The findings indicate that fast-food restaurants performed the best, followed by full-service restaurants and then economy/buffet restaurants. The results also reveal that the performance of all the three restaurant sectors was inferior to that of the market portfolio. To improve their risk-adjusted performance, restaurant firms should continue to consolidate to further enhance revenue and lower operating costs, thus raising their stock returns without increasing the systematic risk. In the meantime, they should lower their unsystematic risk.