Domino's Pizza Continues Its Rise With Another Earnings Beat
In this segment from Market Foolery, the teamtalksDomino's(NYSE: DPZ), which has rocketed from just $5 per share in 2008 to over $180 today, and the stock looks to be going nowhere but up. As Ron Gross explains, the key was transparency and a focus on fixing the biggest flaws in the business. Since then, growth at the company has been stunning with management taking a forward-thinking approach to technology as well.
But is there any remaining upside for investors?
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on April 27, 2017.
Mac Greer:Domino'sup big on Thursday and stronger than expected earnings. Ron, you recommended this stock back around $5 a share. In 2010, they ran those ad campaigns saying, "Yes, the pizza tastes like cardboard," the stock was around $10 a share. Today, it's around $187 a share.
Ron Gross:Holy cannoli. I wish I held on this whole time. Truth be told, I sold a while ago. I did wonderfully on it, and got a nice rebound. At $5, it was much too cheap a stock. To their credit, they really recognized what was wrong with business. Not every management team does. And not every management team is transparent about it. So, kudos to them for revamping the menu, revamping the pizza, adding things to the menu, focusing on the franchise story, getting the stores back into the hands of good franchisees, and really turning the business around. You continue to see it. Domestic same-store sales this quarter were up 10%. That's the 24th consecutive quarter of positive comps. International had 93 consecutive quarters of positive comps. Profits up 42% for the quarter. They just continue to really execute. Now, the story is about technology, and how they're using technology, whether it's theAmazonEcho or app or mobile to really help people purchase their pizza.
Jason Moser:Wasn't there a pair of shoes that just came out where you can orderPizza Hutfrom the actual shoe?
Greer:Is that right?
Moser:You can push button on the shoe and order pizza. I'm 99.9% certain that was not fake news.
Greer:That's amazing. Ron, you were telling me, you're still old school, you still call for your pizza? We were talking before the show.
Gross:No, I don't call. We go on the website and do it exclusively that way. But I have yet to download an app. I have an Amazon Echo, we have yet to teach Alexa how to order through --
Greer:Oh, so you're just not doing the mobile. But you're not, like, faxing in your order.
Gross:[laughs] No. Carrier pigeon over to thelocal Domino's.
Moser:Don't you think, though, based on a couple companies here, between Domino's, Under Armour, potentially, I think Netflix was a good example, there's a pattern there in that if you find management teams that are willing to step forward and say, "You know what? We screwed up, we did something wrong, we missed this, and we're going to own that mistake and get back down to work here and figure out a way to move forward," it seems to me like when you find a management team that's embracing their mistakes -- I mean, we always talk about that as investors. When you're an investor and you're going to embrace your mistakes, you learn from them, it makes you better. Management, it's very much the same thing. I think when you find a management team like that, it's worth giving it another look there. There's a lot to be said for that as a long-term investor.
Gross:And it's very brave to be so transparent about it. You have management teams tweaking businesses behind the scenes all the time, but to go out and make it the centerpiece of your marketing campaign, it's very clever, but it's also very honest and transparent.
Moser:And you get raked over the coals these days betweenTwitterandFacebookand wherever else. People are so quick to jump on success stories that have fallen from grace. It's not very nice, I don't teach my kids to do that. But I guess we all have to recognize what's going on. It just strikes me that whenever you find management teams like that that are willing to embrace their mistakes andreally get better from them, those are investments that I tend to give a little bit more consideration.
Greer:I like that. We talked about maybe starting the Humility Index.
Moser:I think we have to patent that.
Greer:I think of Ron Shaich atPanera, when a few years ago, he basically said, "The restaurants are mosh pits."
Gross:Perfect example.
Greer:"They're a mess. We're going to fix it." And they did. And we have a Panera 2.0right across from The Motley Fool here, and I freaking love it. You don't have to interact with anyone. You just go and grab your food.
Moser:"I'm Mac Greer, and I don't like people."
Greer:Yeah, that's frightening, I can't believe I just said that.
Jason Moser owns shares of Twitter, Under Armour (A Shares), and Under Armour (C Shares). Mac Greer has no position in any stocks mentioned. Ron Gross owns shares of Amazon and Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Under Armour (A Shares), and Under Armour (C Shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of Panera Bread. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.