Restaurant Names Higher

The market is stuck in neutral today but not the restaurant stocks. Gains are dramatic across the board - McDonalds + $1.73, Darden + $1.21 and YUM Brands +.74 are just some of the names popping. The financial “talking heads” are saying lower food costs are driving these stocks higher.
Our take is that there is a continued changing demographic in the US. Just like on-line shopping and cell phones have become commonplace so have women working (and not in the home) - a $30 meal at Olive Garden (Darden owned) has become almost a necessity more than a luxury.
We have written several times about “little luxuries” gaining traction and this seems to be more evidence of that - consumers are willing to eat out BUT not take on debt buying a car or furniture.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.