Friday - Stephens has adjusted its outlook on Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ), reducing the price target to $430 from the previous $493, while maintaining an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The revision follows Domino's second quarter of 2024 performance, which showed U.S. same-store sales, adjusted EBITDA, and total new units slightly below expectations.
However, these results were balanced by better-than-expected International same-store sales and adjusted EPS.
The company experienced positive traffic growth across all income demographics, along with strong international same-store sales. Domino's also reaffirmed its commitment to operating income growth.
Despite these solid results, the analyst noted that the year-to-date performance expectations for restaurant stocks have been high, with Domino's trading at a premium compared to its 10-year historical enterprise value to next twelve months EBITDA ratio.
The analyst emphasized that while Domino's is aligning with its expectations set earlier in the year, including a forecasted U.S. same-store sales increase of 3%, the potential for decelerating trends in the second half of 2024 and challenging comparisons in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 might impact the short-term outlook.
In summary, Stephens recognizes the company's strategic approach to developing sales drivers and acknowledges the management's long-term perspective.
Nevertheless, the firm anticipates that the impending headwinds could influence Domino's stock performance in the near future, prompting the decision to lower the price target while keeping the rating unchanged.
In other recent news, Domino's Pizza reported second-quarter sales growth of 4.8%, slightly below the projected 4.91%, reflecting cautious consumer spending.
Despite this, the company surpassed profit expectations, earning $4.03 per share against the anticipated $3.68, and reported a gross margin increase to 39.8% from 39.5% the previous year. The company's overall revenue met the target, reporting $1.10 billion for the quarter.
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Evercore ISI reduced their price targets for Domino's Pizza to $450 and $500, respectively, while Baird upgraded the company's shares from Neutral to Outperform, raising its price target to $580.
These adjustments came in response to recent developments, including the announcement of store closures in Japan and France by Domino's Pizza Enterprises.
In light of flat growth forecasts, Domino's Pizza Enterprises is planning to close several underperforming stores in Japan and France, a move expected to have a near-term negative impact on earnings projections according to analysts from Macquarie and UBS. Following these developments, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Macquarie adjusted their earnings estimates downwards.
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