Domino's Pizza reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and hiked its quarterly dividend early Monday. DPZ shares angled higher on the report.
The restaurant chain announced Q4 earnings grew more than 1% to $4.48 with revenue increasing less than 1% to $1.403 billion. Same-store sales advanced 2%, slightly below Wall Street's 2.2% prediction. But U.S. comps grew 2.8%, slightly topping, including a 5.9% gain for company-owned locations.
Analysts expected EPS of $4.38 and revenue totaling $1.42 billion, according to FactSet.
Domino's Pizza also approved a 25% increase to its quarterly dividend, bringing it to $1.51 per share. The pizza giant also signed off on an additional $1 billion share repurchase program.
During the fourth quarter, the company repurchased and retired 167,572 shares of common stock for a total of $58.2 million. At the end of 2023, Domino's had a total remaining authorized amount for share repurchases of $141.3 million. With the additional $1 billion, DPZ now has a total authorization of $1.14 billion for future share repurchases.
Domino's Pizza ended 2023 with free cash flow of $485.5 million, up from $388 million in 2022, despite spending $105.4 million for capital expenditures. In 2022, DPZ spent $87.2 million in capital expenditures.
Domino's Pizza Stock
Domino's Pizza stock jumped 5.9% to 459.14 Monday during market action. On Friday, DPZ shares edged up 1.3% to 433.65. In February, the stock has gained 7.7%, on pace for its fourth consecutive monthly advance.
Domino's stock closed Friday 4% above an official 415.81 buy point from a flat base, on a weekly chart. On Monday, DPZ shares cleared the buy zone.
In early December, the company updated long-term guidance during its investor day confab. An investor presentation posted to Domino's website showed it now expects, through 2028 annual retail global sales growth of "more than 7%," which is near the high end of the company's previous expectations for 4%-8% growth.
Domino's also predicts more than 1,100 new stores vs. prior expectations for annual net store growth of 5%-7% and more than 8% annual operating income growth vs. no profit guidance earlier.
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