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Domino's, Yum, Papa John's, Papa Murphy's investors all up for bigger slices of the pies

With tax time behind them and warm weather ahead, U.S. investors sent some spare change into pizza stocks last week, giving all four of the major publicly traded brands watched weekly by Pizza Marketplace lifts in stock values last week.

April 29, 2019 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

All four major publicly traded pizza brands watched weekly by Pizza Marketplace were up at the close of markets last week, signaling that investors were ready to spend it in hopes of getting even greater future returns. Aside from that positive note, pizza operators didn't get a lot of help with the bottom line with commodity prices last week, except from the grain markets, where wheat prices dropped. 

Cheese

Barrels closed Friday at $1.63, while 40-pound blocks closed at $1.69. The weekly average for barrels was up 3 cents to $1.60, while blocks were up 2 cents to $1.68. 

The U.S.D.A. Agricultural Marketing Service reports that Western contacts report that contract and specialty cheese is moving well, but buyers are hesitant to take on extra spot loads. Meanwhile, Midwestern demand is mixed, with some cheese producers there suggesting that ordering was slower this week. 

In the East, trading was stable to lighter as well. Inventories are long nationwide, but a number of producers suggest respective stores are manageable to balanced. 

Wheat

On the U.S. grain markets cash bids for wheat were lower compared to last week, with Winter wheat reported at 92 percent fair to excellent, compared to 91 percent the previous week and 63 percent the previous year, according to the U.S.D.A.

Export sales for the week ending April 18 totaled 15.6 million bushels of wheat, with wheat reported steady to 37 1/2 cents lower.  Kansas City U.S. No. 1 Hard Red Winter, ordinary protein rail bid was 25 3/4 cents lower, from $5.24 1/4-$5.34 1/4 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 9 to 10 cents lower, from $4.66-$4.72 per bushel. Minneapolis and Duluth U.S. No. 1 Dark Northern Spring, 14 to 14.5 percent protein rail, was 32 1/2 to 37 1/2 cents lower, from $6.00 3/4-$6.05 3/4 per bushel. Portland U.S. Soft White wheat rail was steady to 5 cents lower, from $5.80-$5.90 per bushel. 

Vehicle fuel

Everybody wants fuel these days at the start of nicer weather over much of the U.S., and that is not only shrinking stocks of petroleum but also driving up pump prices, according to the American Automobile Association. This morning, AAA reported that a gallon of regular was fetching $2.89 on average nationally, up a nickel from last week, 20 cents from last month and even a healthy 9 cents higher than what we paid this time last year. 

Mid-grade ($3.20) and premium ($3.45) also followed that same trajectory, while the price of diesel ($3.10) E85 ($2.45) both remain less effected by the pressures that have gasoline on such an upswing.. Diesel, for instance,  was up just about 7 cents over last month and just 4 cents over last year's rate, while E85 was about 9 cents higher than last month and 10 cents over last year's price. 

Natural gas

Natural gas spot price movements were mixed for the 7-day report week, ending April 24, though Henry Hub spot prices fell from $2.56 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) to $2.50/MMBtu over that same period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of the May 2019 contract fell 5 cents, from $2.517/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.462/MMBtu. The price of the 12-month strip, averaging May 2019 through April 2020 futures contracts, fell 6 cents/MMBtu to $2.665/MMBtu.

Net injections to working gas totaled 92 Bcf for the week ending April 19. Working natural gas stocks are 1,339 Bcf, which is 4% more than the year-ago level and 22% lower than the five-year (2014-18) average for the period. 

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 3 cents/MMBtu, averaging $6.12/MMBtu for the week ending April 24. The price of propane fell by 3%. The price of natural gasoline and ethane rose by 2% and 1%, respectively. The price of butane and isobutane remained flat week over week.

According to Baker Hughes, for the 7-day period ending Tuesday, April 16, the natural gas rig count decreased by two to 187. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by eight to 825. The total rig count decreased by 10, and it now stands at 1,012.

Pizza company stocks

Domino's saw its stock value shoot up another $5.82 cents last week to close at $273.43 last Friday, Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands, also added value on the week, closing Friday at $104.09, up 58 cents from the previous week's close. On the Nasdaq, Papa John's bounced up over the $50 mark again last week, closing Friday at $51.39. $2.13 higher than the previous week's close. 

Lastly, Papa Murphy's edged up a few more cents last week to close Friday at $6.46, 2 cents higher than the previous week's close. 

Photo: iStock

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.