Barring a couple of names in QSR, volume is slowing.  Regardless, stocks keep going up!

Looking at the table below, it is clear to see which stocks have been performing well: almost all of them.  The most consistent performers over the past few days, from a price and volume perspective, have been PNRA, CMG, RUTH (outside of yesterday), PZZA, and CBRL. 

In terms of commodities, the PNRA story has been helped by declining wheat and corn prices.  It seems that those trends may be reversing lately; we will be monitoring these trends closely.

TALES OF THE TAPE - commodity 4.6

In terms of upgrades/downgrades, there has been plenty of activity in the last 24 hours. 

  • This morning, CMG was upgraded to neutral from underperform. Yesterday the stock was up 2.4% on strong volume.  While CMG, at 12%, has almost twice the short interest of the average QSR stock, it is up 38.6% year-to-date. CMG is trading at 26.4x NTM EPS and 11.7x EV/EBITDA as compared to 8.6x for the QSR group. 
  • Also this morning, SBUX was upgraded to BUY from HOLD.  The stock was flat yesterday. 
  • DRI was upgraded to outperform from neutral.  Yesterday the stock was down on weak volume.
  • CPKI was upgraded to neutral from underperform following a flat day of trading yesterday.
  • Papa John's was upgraded to BUY from HOLD.  The upgrade cites better sales trends and an improved outlook for the price of cheese.

TALES OF THE TAPE - stock 4.6

Howard Penney

Managing Director