Buy Domino’s stock, can beat restaurant blues, Barron’s says

Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) stock has underperformed the stock market in 2024, but now the shares look ready to deliver, Jacob Sonenshine writes in this week’s edition of Barron’s. Shares of Domino’s have gained 3.5% this year, underperforming the S&P 500 index’s 25% rise. The good news is that Domino’s poor performance appears to have resulted not from management missteps but economic pressures, the author says. Its U.S. same-store-sales growth has been anywhere from four to eight percentage points higher than the outright declines seen for Papa John’s (PZZA) and Pizza Hut (YUM) in the past three quarters, according to Evercore analyst David Palmer. He expects the same dynamic in the fourth quarter, when he predicts Domino’s will deliver 2% U.S. comparable sales growth.