Shares of Domino’s Pizza Inc. climbed as much as 9.6 per cent on Monday in New York, after it beat Wall Street estimates for US same-store sales for the fourth quarter.
The fast-food chain reported profit for the last three months (October-December) of 2023 that topped analysts’ expectations.
It reported a quarterly per share profit of $4.48. It also raised its quarterly dividend by 25 per cent and announced an additional $1 billion share buyback plan.
Domestic comparable sales advanced 2.8 per cent, said Domino’s Pizza.
The rise in Domino’s Pizza stock on Monday is the biggest increase since July.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. chief executive officer (CEO) Russell Weiner on Monday said that “emergency pizza” promotion — a twist on a buy one, get one free deal — drove an increase in order counts and sign-ups to the company’s loyalty program.
The rewards program added 3 million members in 2023, with more than 2 million of them joining since the revamp.
“Clearly, customers want value, and we are driving it profitably,” Weiner added.
Domino’s international comparable sales growth stood at 0.1 per cent.
Domino’s chief financial officer (CFO) Sandeep Reddy said that weakness in Europe and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East were the primary drivers of a deceleration of the company’s business outside of the US.
In the US, the fast-food chain completed a nationwide roll out of a third-party ordering service with Uber Technologies Inc.
Reddy also said that Domino’s Pizza plans to raise prices in the low-single-digits percentage range in the US this year in a bid to shield margins from the impact of the wage hikes set to take effect in California in April.
At 09:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 68.69 points, or 0.18 per cent, at 39,200.22, the S&P 500 was up 8.40 points, or 0.17 per cent, at 5,097.20, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 22.55 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 16,019.38.
Source: Mint
