Papa John's: No Change to Standard Capital Allocation Rating Until CEO Successor Announced

Rob Lynch, president and CEO, will be departing narrow-moat Papa John's to assume the CEO position with Shake Shack (not covered). Papa John's current CFO, Ravi Thanawala, will step into the interim CEO role immediately. Thanawala joined the company as CFO in 2023 after serving as the CFO of Nike North America. His tenure at Nike included stints as Global VP and CFO of the Converse brand, and we don't believe that he's the logical long-term replacement for the CEO role, given his lack of foodservice industry experience. For now, we plan to maintain our Standard Capital Allocation Rating for the firm, which we will revisit after the board of directors announces Lynch's successor. Shares look cheap after a 5% decline in March 21 trading.