Domino's Opens 10,000th International Store, Eyes Sales Growth

Domino's Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ) has hit a major milestone by the opening of the 10,000th international store. The new store is located in the Luohu District of Shenzhen, China. Notably, it is the 200th Domino's store in mainland China.

As Domino’s earns a chunk of its revenues from outside the United States, the company remains committed to fortifying its presence in international markets. The company said that it plans to open more stores later this year.

Strategic Expansion: A Key Growth Strategy

Domino’s international growth continues to be strong and diversified across markets, courtesy of exceptional unit level economics. On the domestic and international front, the fourth quarter of 2018 marked the company’s 31st and 100th consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales, respectively. These apart, Domino’s inaugurated 829 net new stores in international markets during 2017 and 1,058 net new stores last year.

Furthermore, many international franchisees are consistently generating robust returns. Apart from the established markets such as Canada, Japan, Italy, the U.K., Ireland, Switzerland and South Korea, the emerging markets like Brazil, China, Indonesia and Turkey have been delivering solid performances. Australia, Russia, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia are also gaining momentum.

Meanwhile, India remains a market with immense growth potential. In fact, Domino’s India is one of the fastest growing operations in its global system. Additionally, the company’s entry into Slovakia and Malta is proof of its ever-expanding base.

Backed by an expanding global brand presence, shares of Domino’s have surged 40.5% in the past two years compared with the industry’s 38.8% rally.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Domino’s has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) , Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Brinker International has an impressive long-term earnings growth rate of 14.5%.

Starbucks delivered positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being of 6%.

Chipotle Mexican Grill reported better-than-expected earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 18.3%.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.

See their latest picks free >>