By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Domino's Pizza (NYSE:DPZ) are down 9.5% in pre-open Thursday after the pizza restaurant chain slashed its 2-3 years outlook on current macroeconomic headwinds.
Domino's reported EPS of $4.43 on revenue of $1.39 billion, which compares to the consensus for earnings of $3.97 on sales of $1.44B. Revenue increased by 3.6% year-over-year while domestic stores comparable sales grew just 0.9%. Analysts were hoping for a 3.6% increase in comparable sales.
Comparable international sales rose 2.6%, again missing the +3.9% consensus.
"We experienced significant pressure on our U.S. delivery business in 2022 and focused our efforts on creating solutions. We also drove continued momentum in our U.S. carryout business and achieved strong international store growth," said Russell Weiner, Domino's Chief Executive Officer.
Domino's also cut its 2-3 year outlook from 6% to 8% global retail sales growth, excluding FX impact, to 4-8% growth. Global net unit growth is now seen at 5-7% from the prior 6-8%.
"The Company expects results for fiscal 2023 to come in towards the low-end of the ranges for both metrics," the company further stated.
DPZ also said that its board approved a 10% increase to the quarterly dividend to $1.21 per share.
Cowen analysts said the "challenged" Q4 trends led to the outlook cut.
"While Domino's outperformed the pizza category in 2022, we look forward to learning new remedies from management to improve performance," the analysts said in a client note.