Jamba Juice 2012 Expansion & Outlook Driving Investor Interest (JMBA)

Jamba, Inc. (NASDAQ: JMBA) is one of the best performing NASDAQ stocks in 2011.  It is also one of the few established brands out there in food services that is not matured as a growth story. Whether this can continue or not is up for grabs, but the recently issued guidance has continued to drive interest in the juice and frozen drink destination. 

It was just on Monday that the company put guidance at the higher end of its 2% to 4% range while the company has been cutting its costs per unit while increasing its points of distribution.

For the fiscal 2012 period, guidance was company-owned comparable store sales growth of 3% to 4% with adjusted operating profit margins of 19% to 22%.  It also hopes to generate 40 to 50 new stores throughout the U.S. and another 10 to 15 stores internationally.

For a penny stock (or near-penny stock) this one has been up and up.  After a 3% gain today the stock is up at $1.65 against a 52-week range of $1.21 to $2.61.  This is actually a 26% gain from the close of $1.31 at the end of 2011.  Not bad for what has been seven trading sessions.

The market cap here is still only $110 million.  As of January 3, 2012, Jamba had 750 locations in the United States: 307 company-owned and 443 franchises; it also had only 19 international stores.

The company has maintained that this business can handle a 1,000 units in America and it has given a forecast that it will be profitable next year.