High prices for gasoline and food and the lingering effects of the Great Recession aren’t good news for restaurant chains, but two KeyBanc analysts say there’s good news, too.
In a note to clients Tuesday morning, analysts Brad Ludington and John Dravenstott noted that their stock index of 39 restaurants is up 12.5 percent since the beginning of the year, versus 5.8 percent for the S&P 500.
While the jobless rate isn’t as low as anyone would like it to be, it does bring one benefit to restaurants: lower employee turnover. Also, restaurants have done a good job of handling rising commodities costs, the analysts said, and even a small drop in gas prices can encourage people to spend money on eating out.