Stock Of The Day: Domino's Pizza Slides 6% As Us Spending Slowdown Bites

A delivery worker outside Domino's in Washington Heights, New York.

Andrew Lichtenstein/Getty Images

• Domino's Pizza stock fell by 6% after missing fourth-quarter earnings estimates.
• A surprise slowdown in same-store sales growth for its US company-owned locations drove the miss.
• Domino's said it planned to leverage value offerings to retain consumers amid budget tightening.

The move: Domino's Pizza stock dropped by as much as 6% on Monday, to $435.50, and was down by about 20% from its 52-week high.

The chart:

Why: The pizza chain's stock sold off after it reported fourth-quarter earnings results that missed analysts' revenue and profit estimates.

A slowdown in Domino's US sales drove the miss, with same-store sales declining by nearly 1% in company-owned locations and up by just half a percent in franchise-owned stores.

That's in stark contrast to the prior year's fourth-quarter same-store sales growth of about 6% and 3%.

Altogether, Domino's US same-store sales increased by 0.4% in the quarter, compared with 2.8% in the year-ago quarter and analysts' estimates of 1.5%.

What it means: The slowdown in Domino's US-based sales coincides with the broader trend of US consumers tightening their budgets as sentiment sours.

US retail sales declined by 0.9% in January, the largest decline in nearly two years. This suggests that consumers might be experiencing spending fatigue and are looking for deals.

Domino's said that it expected same-store sales growth to align with its long-term goal of 3% in 2025 and that its value offerings would most likely drive much of that growth.

Value offerings have been a key sales-growth driver for fast-casual restaurants. McDonald's, for example, extended what was meant to be a temporary value offering through the summer.

What the pros are saying: JPMorgan argued that while earnings missed estimates, Domino's is still in a good spot to offer price-conscious consumers good value on food.

"Being able to sustain a low cost 2 topping-2 medium pizzas for $6.99 each remains an enviable position to be in — especially in this value craved consumer macro," analysts at the bank said.