Article

Yum Brands lone loser in last week's pizza stock trading

Most pizza commodity prices, however, made relatively minute moves downward.

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June 22, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Maybe it was a sign of the lazier, hazier days of summer that officially started Saturday, but both the stocks and commodities of most interest to pizza restaurateurs were moving very little last week, when most pizza brands inched up slightly in value. Most pizza commodity prices, however, made relatively minute moves downward.

In pizza stock trading, Domino's Inc. eked out a 9-cent increase in value over the week's trading to close at $378.41 Friday, while Rave Restaurant Group, the parent company of Pie Five and Pizza Inn, edged up 3 cents on the week to end Friday at 89 cents.

Papa John's International Inc. managed to pick up the most speed, posting a $4.06 gain over the seven-day period, ending Friday $88.26. The news wasn't as good for Louisville-based Yum Brands, which owns Pizza Hut. It back-pedaled a bit as the week progressed, ending Friday at $88.26, down $3.02 for the period.

Cheese

Prices paid for cheese last week dropped slightly, despite healthy demand nationwide. The weekly average for barrels fell 6 cents to $2.31, while 40-pound blocks dropped about 2 cents for an average price last week of $2.53. Closing values for blocks came in at $2.65, while barrels closed at $2.29, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cheese production is busy, according to the U.S.D.A, with both locally owned, as well as national and regional pizza brands reporting strong sales numbers and affecting the production and supply of pizza cheese providers nationally.
Cheese market tones remain healthy, according to the department, which said that cheese inventories — particularly for recently produced loads — are limited and a number of cheese makers reporting that they are specifically producing for contractual buyers.

Views concerning the longevity of the current bullishness vary though, with some expecting falloffs to come quickly, while others expecting that current demand and lighter milk supplies could sustain some of current positivity on the markets.

Wheat

Wheat prices last week were mixed to slightly lower last week, though Kansas City hard red winter wheat contracts made slight gains. July Chicago soft red winter futures dropped 2 cents to $4.82, while Kansas City hard red winter futures gained a cent to come in at $4.30 and Minneapolis July spring wheat futures fell less than a cent to ring in at $5.27.

Net sales of 505,000 metric tons were reported for delivery in 2020/21, up 87% from last week, and also above trade expectations of between 250,000 and 500,000 metric tons.

Auto fuel

Though the national average for a gallon of regular increased about 3 cents over last week, gas demand fell slightly last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As demand drops as domestic stocks of the fuel prices remain healthy, pump price increases tend to slow, which is how the American Automobile Association expects things to go for the rest of this month nationally.

The largest weekly increases nationally were in Montana, which added 9 cents to the average price paid for a gallon of regular last week, followed by Alaska (up 7 cents) and then Colorado, Delaware, Georgia and Ohio — all 6 cents higher on the week.

By Monday morning, the national average for a gallon of regular was $2.13, which is 19 cents higher than last month but still below last year at this time when we paid an average of $2.66 per gallon of regular unleaded.

Mid-grade ($2.47) and premium ($2.73) were each up 18 cents from last month, while the price of a gallon of diesel was up just a penny over its price a month ago to $2.43. Finally, E85 rang in at $1.96 today, up 15 cents from last month's price.

Natural gas

Natural gas spot prices fell at most locations for the seven days that end on June 17. The Henry Hub spot price fell from $1.70 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) to $1.48/MMBtu over that period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the price of the July 2020 contract fell 14 cents, from $1.78/MMBtu to $1.64/MMBtu over that period. The price of the 12-month strip, averaging July 2020 through June 2021 futures contracts, declined 7 cents/MMBtu to $2.36/MMBtu.

The net injections to working gas totaled 85 billion cubic feet for the week ending June 12. Working natural gas stocks totaled 2,892 Bcf, which is 33% more than the year-ago level and 17% more than the five-year (2015–19) average for this week.

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.