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All things considered? A pretty good week to be a pizza restaurateur

Domino's and Papa John's, as well as the parent companies of Pizza Hut, Pie Five and Pizza Inn, all played favorites with investors last week, with the companies behind all these brands showing nice increases in share value last week.

Domino's, Papa John's, Yum Brands and Rave Restaurant Group all saw stock value gains last week, while the prices for pizza restaurant staples fell (photo: iStock).

April 20, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic-related business restrictions, overall last week was a pretty good one to be a pizza brand in the U.S. All four major publicly traded brands watched by Pizza Marketplace increased their share prices, while the costs incurred for every major pizza restaurant commodity fell over the week. 

Pizza-making giant, Domino's Pizza, Inc., recorded some of the biggest weekly increases, closing Friday at $362.97, up $19.33 over the week. Meanwhile, Louisville-based competitor, Papa John's moved upward $6.13 in value over the week's stock market activity to close the week at $65.13. 

At Pizza Hut parent and multiple QSR brand company, Yum Brands, the week's gains amounted to $3.80 in increased value, when Yum ended Friday at $84.17 at the closing bell. The smaller, double-pizza brand company, Rave Restaurant Group, also showed steady improvement, ending Friday at 78 cents, up 9 cents from the previous week's close for the Pizza Inn and Pie Five parent company. 

Cheese

Cheese prices continued their downward slide that has been in effect since the pandemic sharply reduced needs across food service and retail, though some light is coming through in the current tunnel that dairy producers find themselves. The average last week on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for blocks fell 10 cents to $1.01, while the average price paid for barrels sank 5 cents to $1.01. Both barrels and blocks ended the week at $1.01, indicating that the once-widening price gap between barrels and blocks that had caused many concern, has narrowed for now. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that cheese inventories are growing for the most part nationally, with some positive reports from cheese producers who are primarily shipping into retail channels. But many cheese producers have expressed a growing concern about storage space. 

Some food service demand is reported to be growing slightly week to week, although when compared to previous years, sales are noticeably slower, the U.S.D.A. said. Other department contacts have reported that even weekly changes are on a downward slant.

Wheat

Cash bids for wheat were mostly lower last week, with wheat export sales showing an increase of 6.6 million bushels for 2019-20. Wheat was 31 1/4 cents lower to 2 cents higher, the U.S.D.A. said. 

Kansas City U.S. No. 1 hard red winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 26 cents lower, from $5.51-$5.61 per bushel. Kansas City U.S. No. 2 soft red winter rail bid was not quoted.  

St. Louis truck U.S. No. 2 soft red winter terminal bid was 27 cents lower at $5.45 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth U.S. No. 1 dark northern spring, 14% to 14.5% protein rail, was 21 1/4 to 31 1/4 cents lower, from $6.01 1/4-$6.26 ¼ per bushel. Portland U.S. soft white wheat rail was steady to 2 cents higher, from $6.07-$6.10 per bushel.

Auto fuel

More supply and less demand continues to have a price-plummeting effect on pizza restaurateurs' prices at the pump. Last week alone, the American Automobile Association said the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 4 cents to $1.82, on average. 

Growing domestic gas supply and lower demand, as Americans practice social distancing, as well as COVID-related lower crude prices are combining to keep prices down for auto fuel costs. In its latest weekly report, for instance, the U.S. Energy Information Administration released new data that shows total domestic gasoline stocks grew by 4.9 million barrels (bbl) last week to 262.2 million bbl, which is 34.3 million bbl more than last year's level at this time. 

Meanwhile, gas demand registered at 5.1 million barrels a day for a second week. The largest weekly declines in gas prices were in Alaska (-17 cents), Idaho (-12 cents), Wisconsin (-10 cents) and Nevada (-9 cents), as well as Minnesota, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, Washington and Oregon, which all fell 8 cents over the seven days, AAA said.  

The association reported that today the average price for a gallon of mid-grade came in at $1.81, down a hefty 36 cents a gallon from the price for the same quantity a month ago and more than a dollar from this time last year. Mid-grade ($2.20) and premium gas ($2.46), were down 38 cents and 35 cents, respectively from last month's price. 

Diesel's price difference has not been as marked, with the average price per gallon today at $2.50, down 20 cents from last month. E85 today averaged $1.63, down 30 cents from this time last month. 

Natural gas

Natural gas spot prices also fell at most locations for the seven-day period that ended on April 15, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Henry Hub spot price fell from $1.80 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last to $1.64/MMBtu over that same period.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the price of the May 2020 contract decreased 19 cents, from $1.78/MMBtu to $1.60/MMBtu, while the price of the 12-month strip — averaging May 2020 through April 2021 — futures contracts declined 5 cents/MMBtu to $2.299/MMBtu.

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.