Chipotle Mexican Grill

The McDonald's Of 2007

What Ray Kroc was to hamburgers, Steve Ells is to Mexican food. Ells, Chipotle Mexican Grill's (CMG) founder, has created a stock to buy and put away. This company is too early in its growth phase to be ignored. There is a long way to go with this stock.

Highlights for full year 2006 as compared to full year 2005 include:

• Revenue increased 31.1% to $822.9 million
• Comparable restaurant sales increased 13.7%, compared to 10.2% in 2005
• Restaurant level operating margins increased 240 basis points to 20.9%
• Income from operations approximately doubled to $62.0 million
• Diluted earnings per share were $1.28, compared to $0.66 in 2005

There could be some negatives. Chipotle needs to invest heavily to get employees. Growing rapidly in a tight labor environment is extremely difficult. It will also have to deal with higher food costs and higher costs to open up new stores as it enters more expensive markets.