Did anti-Obamacare rants cost "Papa" big-time?

Maybe he could share a pittance with the people who make his money for him.

Or, maybe he'll continue to play by the rules that you and I voted for. And maybe he'll use the higher market capitalization of PZZA as currency to open new stores and/or enter into new business lines to employ more Americans. Just sayin'.

FWIW John and I both slung delicious pies as teenagers at the old Rocky's over thirty years ago. We didn't get a healthcare package and we turned out fine. He's not offering his employees a better or worse deal than he had at the time.

In the off chance that anyone is interested, I support full, universal healthcare similar to several models employed in Europe which, despite the silly notions of most American lefties, is a gigantic tax on the rich. I pay $20K a year for "free" healthcare.... but I'm OK with that. Don't get me started on the other outrageous taxes I pay over here. I also support a sliding scale, age based minimum wage such as is employed in the Netherlands. Teens still in school living with their parents get much less but once they're older the payscale and bennies move higher. I think it's a very sensible regime.

I don't have a vast knowledge base. Just 30 seconds of Google. The stock is up 80% !!! The investment community is more concerned with things that really count like "sales" and "earnings".

"YouGov BrandIndex" apparently is not yet particularly relevant.

Dan and Robin,

I dont know how or why but Google is wrong.
Their track of the stock price right now shows it reaching a high of $89 on December 27th and then plummeting to $46 on December 30th. Both of which would have been amazing stories...100%+ growth in two years, only to lose half your value presumably on reports of your end profit statements.
The problem is their track is wrong. It never climbed to that price and consequently didnt lose that much either.

I seriously have no idea why Google is showing that. Maybe a member of the press could investigate that story? *Hint hint Robin.

Here is the real track for Papa John's stock price over the past 5 years.
http://investing.money.msn.com/investme ... mbol=PZZA#{"zRange":"6","startDate":"2013-1-7","endDate":"2014-1-6","chartStyle":"mountain","chartCursor":"1","scaleType":"0","yaxisAlign":"right","mode":"pan"}

They have actually increased their stock price though by 142% since Jan of 2012, which is still amazing returns.

Criticizing a policy is being a bad corporate citizen?

That makes no sense.

Criticizing government actions that you disagree with is the one and only* sign of a good citizen. Falling in line is the sign of a bad citizen.

*okay, maybe not only. But the most important.

Rob, perhaps you don't keep up with the news, and I understand that. I'm busy, too. But I generally try not to bloviate without checking my facts first.

But what "Papa" did that seems to be pissing people off was threatening to cut his employees' hours so the purported costs of Obamacare* wouldn't have to come out of his huge profits.

(Actually savings, according to the Congressional Budget Office.)

How does that differ from what I said?

His criticism was both in words and in deeds (if he had actually done it, which seems to be in doubt based on later statements). And lots of businesses are doing that, he was pointing out the obvious result of the way the law was written: it encourages employers to have under 30 hr employees. Just like it, and other laws, encourage companies to stop at 49 employees.

If you look at a graph of companies by employee numbers, you can see where regulations affect hiring behavior very clearly. The graphs for France are worse than for the USA, not surprisingly.

In the future, graphs of hours worked will show similar features.

This is apparently all based on something called a "Buzz Score", a proprietary metric provided by a firm called YouGov. They really don't explain how they came up with it or how the factors are measured and weighted.

I would not recommend their services though, given that their analysis seems 180 degrees removed from actual earnings and stock performance. Maybe they are really a political advocacy group in disguise? Crypto-leftists maybe? LOL

If I remember, the entire flap about his statement concerning cutting employee hours came about because of timing . . . he was giving away $20M worth of pizzas in a huge promotion, and then the next day announced that he would likely cut employee hours. Someone did a quickie check, and found that if he had only given away $10M worth of pizzas he could afford to pay health insurance for all his employees!

[Robin Garr]

In fairness, this new report from Business First reports an analyst who foresees a strong year for Papa's; for KFC, not so much.

Analyst predicts positive year for Papa Johns, not so great for KFC
Caitlin Bowling
Reporter-Business First

Two Louisville-based restaurant companies are headed in opposite directions this year, according to an analyst with Jefferies Equity Research.

As Louisville-based pizza chain Papa John’s International Inc. looks to increase its market share in 2014, KFC Corp. will struggle to retain its position in the U.S. restaurant market,the report said.

Nation's Restaurant News posted the report from securities analyst Andy Barish giving his take on how restaurant companies such as Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ:PNRA), McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) and Papa John’s (NASDAQ:PZZA) will perform in the New Year.

KFC, which is owned by the Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), also received a mention, though it can’t be deemed honorable.

Full story here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/n ... 2014-01-06

A stock halving overnight means there was probably a 2/1 stock split. The share has rocketed since mid 2012. YouGov's social media buzz scores don't sound to me like anything that real asset managers would take very seriously. When people on Reddit or wherever call for boycotts of Ben & Jerrys because they're libtards or Papa John's and Chicfilay because they're Rethuglicans, those people are just fooling themselves. If a company makes a good product at the right price, people are going to keep buying it (unless that company is making Zyclon B).

I'll note with the usual alacrity that the author of the Forbes piece is some sort of lefty political pundit who doesn't know his arse from a hole in the ground when it comes to capital markets.

I recommend Dominos if you are looking for an alternative to papa johns. Their pizza has gotten a LOT better than it was years ago.

[Robin Garr]

If you want to critique corporate pizza based on politics, though, do you know that Dominos opens a whole nuther can of worms than Papa J? Its founder, Tom Monaghan, is an extreme right-wing Catholic who has funded some of the most far-out anti-abortion groups and other interesting things.

Personally, I'd rather go with a local like Coal's or Papalino's or Boombozz or Impellizzeri's (etc.) than any of the corporate chains. "Local ownership, better pizza."

Lol thanks for letting me know that Robin. Frankly I just try to keep politics out of what I'm purchasing unless its completely egregious. I mean the way I see it you cant say that the thousands of people employed by Dominos all have the same idiotic views as their founder. I was pretty upset about chik fil a but i'm not gonna punish some local franchisee because the CEO has stereotypical viewpoints.

If you have the luxury of being able to go pick up your pizza whenever you want, absolutely go local. But I have two small kids so sometimes I just want the thing delivered, and I don't know of any local places that deliver. I think Bearno's did but I was never crazy about their pizza.

If you want to critique corporate pizza based on politics, though, do you know that Dominos opens a whole nuther can of worms than Papa J? Its founder, Tom Monaghan, is an extreme right-wing Catholic who has funded some of the most far-out anti-abortion groups and other interesting things.

Personally, I'd rather go with a local like Coal's or Papalino's or Boombozz or Impellizzeri's (etc.) than any of the corporate chains. "Local ownership, better pizza."

It's not just the corporate chains who are proponents of "interesting things"...Last fall one of our "local" independent Louisville pizza restaurants was giving a 10 percent discount if you flashed your concealed carry permit at checkout.

Don't know about the others, but Rosie's Pizza (way out eastside) delivers. They make great pizzas, sandwiches (love that meatball), and specialties (including toasted ravioli for the displaced St. Louis crowd).

http://rosiespizza.mobi.

I won't call it a personal "rule" (since I do violate it for the sake of convenience and practicality on occasion) but rather as a general practice I try to steer clear of any business (restaurant, store, etc) that blatantly refuses to separate their business from personal (and/or corporate) politics....regardless of the direction they lean.

[Robin Garr]

I don't know of any local places that deliver.

Boombozz for sure, and Papalino's within 2 or 3 miles of their shop.

[Robin Garr]

.Last fall one of our "local" independent Louisville pizza restaurants was giving a 10 percent discount if you flashed your concealed carry permit at checkout.

I missed that. Would you mind disclosing just which local pizza restaurant that was so I can avoid them forever?