Corona Virus outbreak may have unleashed panic buying of Hostess Twinkies

Among many Corona virus shoppers’ shipping carts stacked high with bleach and hand sanitizer are also boxes of long shelf life Twinkies and Ding Dongs.

July 2013 return for sale after bankruptcy filing.
A Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images image

– News covered by Quincy Quarry News with commentary added.

Corona Virus outbreak may have unleashed panic buying of Hostess Twinkies.

Along with Corona virus panic buying shoppers loading up on bleach, hand sanitizer and toilet paper, many appear to also be loading up on legendarily long shelf life Twinkies.

“We are seeing that,” Hostess Brands CEO Andy Callahan said when asked if he is seeing a bump in sales as people stock up in case they end up trapped at home given a Corona virus outbreak.

“Helen, what do you mean Stoppy is out of Twinkies?”
A Garry Higgins/Patriot Ledger file photo

Added Callahan, “We are benefiting likely in the short-term due to traffic.”

Even without the unexpected recent bump in sales, Hostess has been doing just fine of late in the wake of a bankruptcy reorganization in 2012 which resulted in Twinkies not being available in the United States for nine months.

Fourth-quarter sales rose 6.7% from the prior year to $216.7 million on the back of momentum for breakfast items such as Donettes.  In turn, the price of Hostess shares of stock are up by 8% over the past year, outperforming the Dow’s slight gain and the S&P’s 500 7.5% gain.

Source: Coronavirus outbreak may have unleashed panic buying of Hostess Twinkies

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