Operations

Domino's zooms past $400, setting record high

Domino's passed the $400 mark last week in trading.

Photo: File/Domino's

August 24, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Oh, Domino's, what a week you had, soaring well past the $400 mark to close Friday up $20.70 over the previous Friday's close at $419.70 per share, an all-time high for the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based brand, which said last week that it was hiring some 20,000 employees nationally.

The news was almost as good for the other publicly traded brands, with Papa John's also charting an increase in its value, which grew from $96.20 on Friday, Aug. 14, to $99.57 last Friday. Pizza Hut parent, Yum Brands, put a few notches in its upward graph as well growing $3.43 in value over the week to close Friday at $96.10.

Only Dallas-based Pizza Inn and Pie Five parent, Rave Restaurant Group, recorded a loss last week. Its value fell 9 cents on the week to close Friday at 56 cents.

Cheese

Although cheese production has been steady across the U.S., the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the market was facing uncertainty. That was evident in a divergence between barrel and block price averages last week, which were down 11 for barrels, to $1.37, but up 6 cents for blocks, which averaged $1.73. Barrels closed Friday at $1.33 and 40-pound blocks came in at $1.65.

The U.S.D.A. reported that even as cheese production runs apace, inventories were not yet overly problematic. That being said, the department's contacts nationally said cheese plant managers were leery of growing inventories with some opting out of relatively low spot milk prices..

Wheat

Wheat prices were mixed Friday, with September Chicago soft red winter wheat futures up 7.5 cents to $5.27, while September Kansas City hard red winter futures gained nearly 3 cents to come in at $4.44 and September Minneapolis spring wheat future fell about 1.5 cents to nearly $5.12.

The U.S.D.A.'s August Crop Production report found that 2020 Montana hard red winter wheat production could fall 21% to $2.05 million metric tons on significantly reduced planted area. However, hard red winter conditions remained strong, so the state could end up with a record average yield per acre if the weather is conducive.

Auto fuel

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline increased by a penny last week to $2.18 a gallon, on average. That's a cent more than a week ago, one cent less than a month ago and 42 cents lower than a year ago.

According to the new weekly report from the Energy Information Administration, gas demand decreased slightly from 8.9 million barrels a day (b/d) to 8.6 million b/d. Last week's estimated rate is 1 million b/d lower than last year's rate in mid-August.

Lower demand has helped to keep pump prices stable, while total domestic gasoline stocks fell by 3.3 million bbl to 243.8 million bbl. If demand remains low amid tighter stock levels, motorists will likely see moderate fluctuations in pump prices.

The largest price increases nationally last week were in Indiana (up 5 cents), North Carolina ( up 4 cents), and then California and Ohio (up 3 cents in each state).

The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded today is $2.19, up one cent from last week and even with last month's price. Mid-grade ($2.53) and premium ($2.80) had similar trends. The average price for a gallon of diesel nationally today was $2.42, flat from last week and last month, while E85 fuel was at $1.98 this morning, also flat with the price last week, but down a cent from last month.

Natural gas

Natural gas spot price movements were mixed last week, with the Henry Hub spot price up from $2.06 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) to $2.36/MMBtu, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price of the September 2020 contract increased 27¢, from $2.15/MMBtu to $2.43/MMBtu. The price of the 12-month strip averaging September 2020 through August 2021 futures contracts climbed 15 cents/MMBtu to $2.87/MMBtu.

The net injections to working gas totaled 43 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending Aug. 14. Working natural gas stocks totaled 3,375 Bcf, which is 21% more than the year-ago level and 15% more than the five-year (2015–19) average for this week.

The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by 14 cents/MMBtu, averaging $5.18/MMBtu for the week ending Aug. 19. The prices of ethane, butane, and natural gasoline rose by 9%, 3%, and 2%, respectively. The price of propane and isobutane each fell by 1%.

About S.A. Whitehead

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.