INVESTORS snapped up Jollibee Foods Corp. shares last week amid positive market sentiments on easing inflation in the United States.
The Caktiong-led company was the third most traded stock with P1.37 billion worth of 5.51 million shares exchanging hands on the trading floor from July 10 to 14 based on data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
The share price of the homegrown fast-food giant closed at P254.20 apiece on Friday, up by 5.8% from a week ago. Year to date, the stock gained 10.5%.
“[Jollibee’s] price movement came in due to the overall market sentiment about the CPI (consumer price index) report from the US,” Mercantile Securities Corp. Head Trader Jeff Radley C. See said in a Viber interview.
The US Labor epartment said the country’s CPI gained 3% in June, the smallest year-on-year increase since March 2021 and after a 4% rise in May. The CPI was lifted by rises in gasoline prices and rents, Reuters reported.
“The reports have helped to support the view the Federal Reserve will stop hiking rates after an expected 25 basis points rate increase later this month,” Reuters said.
“I think it is due to foreign inflows coming into Jollibee after a strong start for the year and its plan to expand more globally. Jollibee plans to open 550-600 new stores in 2023. For the first quarter of 2023, Jollibee has already opened 111 new stores,” Joylin F. Telagen, research head at IB Gimenez Securities, Inc., said in an e-mail.
Data from the PSE showed net foreign buying for Jollibee stood at P584.93 million last week. It rose to P448.15 million on Thursday from the P65.97 million recorded on Wednesday.
In the first quarter, Jollibee reported a 3.2% drop in its attributable net income to P2.19 billion from P2.26 billion in the same quarter last year. Revenues went up by 28.5% to P55.09 billion during the period from P42.86 billion a year ago.
System-wide sales, which measure all sales to consumers from company-owned and franchised stores, rose by 31.1% to P78.64 billion from P59.98 billion.
Overseas system-wide sales jumped by 23.3%, while same-store sales rose by 8.8%. For the Philippines, system-wide sales increased by 36.7% while same-store sales went up by 31.6%.
The company plans to open 550 to 600 stores this year and is on track to hit the target after opening 111 outlets in the first quarter.
Ms. Telagen forecast Jollibee’s revenues at P59.85 billion in the second quarter and P245.8 billion for the entire year.
As of end-March, the company had been operating 6,542 stores worldwide with 3,281 in the Philippines and 3,261 in its international business.
Ms. Telagen noted that the news of illegal dismissal in Jollibee North America is just temporary, though there was a sell-off at the beginning of the week.
In a separate report, Jollibee North America addressed claims of illegal dismissal of nine employees of its branch in New Jersey, saying the store in Journal Square terminated the workers due to its financial issues.
“Its strong fundamentals still moved the stock to close at a higher level,” said Ms. Telagen.
She expects the company’s stock to trade sideways this week and placed its support level at P234.00 and its resistance at P260.00.
Ms. Telagen said her bias is still a “continuation of the long-term uptrend,” adding that if the P260.00 is broken, Jollibee might see a retest of its P328.40 all-time high in the next few months.
“Set your alert and trade cautiously,” she added.
Mr. See pegged the stock’s support and resistance levels at P250.00 and P260.00, respectively. — Lourdes O. Pilar with Reuters
