Domino’s Pizza Misses First Quarter U.S. Same Store Sales Consensus Estimate

Image Source: Domino’s By Brian Nelson, CFA On April 28, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) reported mixed first quarter results with GAAP earnings per share exceeding the consensus estimate, but revenue falling short of what the Street was looking for. Excluding foreign currency impacts, global retail sales growth came in at 4.7%, but U.S. same store sales declined 0.5% in the period, missing the consensus estimate. International same store sales growth was 3.7%, excluding foreign currency impacts, beating the consensus estimate. Domino’s experienced a global net store decline of 8 in the quarter, consisting of 17 net store openings in the U.S and 25 net store closings internationally.   Management had the following to say about the quarter: Domino’s Q1 results demonstrate … Read more

Paper: Value and Momentum Within Stocks, Too

Please select the image below to download, “Value and Momentum Within Stocks, Too:” Abstract: This paper strives to advance the field of finance in four ways: 1) it extends the theory of the “The Arithmetic of Active Management” to the investor level; 2) it addresses certain data problems of factor-based methods, namely with respect to value and book-to-market ratios, while introducing price-to-fair-value ratios in a factor-based approach; 3) it may lay the foundation for academic literature regarding the Valuentum, the value-timing, and ultra-momentum factors; and 4) it walks through the potential relative outperformance that may be harvested at the intersection of relevant, unique and compensated factors within individual stocks. To download the full report, please click here (pdf). ———- Actual results … Read more

Domino’s Suspends Long-term Global Net Store Growth Guidance

Image: Domino’s shares have done well since the beginning of 2023, but visibility into its long-term global net store growth has become murky given problems at one of its master franchisees. By Brian Nelson, CFA On July 18, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) reported mixed second-quarter results that showed a slight miss on the top line, but a solid beat on the bottom line. Excluding foreign currency impacts, global retail sales increased 7.2% thanks to “higher supply chain, U.S. franchise advertising and U.S. franchise royalties and fees revenues,” while U.S. same store sales growth expanded 4.8% and international same store sales growth, excluding foreign currency, advanced 2.1%. Global net store growth was 175 in the quarter. The company’s U.S. company-owned gross margin … Read more

How Some Members Use Valuentum’s Investment Services

By Brian Nelson, CFA Thank you for your membership to Valuentum. We serve a wide variety of investors, including dividend growth investors, value investors, and pure Valuentum investors, among others. Many different types of investors and professionals use our research and financial analysis in a whole host of applications from individual stock-selection to the evaluation of closed-end funds to an overlay in a money-management setting and beyond. We wanted to make sure that you know that, if you’re a dividend growth or income investor, that there are others that use our website to utilize the Valuentum process, fair value estimates and other metrics. Similarly, if you’re a practitioner of the Valuentum system, I wanted to make sure that you are … Read more

Domino’s Puts Up Strong Comp in Fourth Quarter, Approves Another $1 Billion in Buybacks, Raises Dividend

By Brian Nelson, CFA On February 26, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) reported mixed fourth-quarter results, but comparable store sales came in better than expectations and the firm announced an additional $1 billion in buybacks, while it raised its dividend ~25%. We’re huge fans of Domino’s due in part to its heavily franchised business model, impressive digital initiatives, as well as its long-term unit growth prospects. The high end of our fair value estimate range of Domino’s stands at $569 per share, and we see meaningful upside from today’s price levels (~$465 per share) given the fundamental momentum at the firm. During the quarter, Domino’s global retail sales growth, excluding currency fluctuations, came in at 4.9%, while U.S. same store sales growth … Read more

Domino’s Pizza Breaks Through Downtrend on Uber Eats and Postmates Deal

Image Source: Domino’s Pizza is up nearly 14% on a year-to-date basis during 2023, but the company’s shares haven’t done much over the past 52 weeks. By Brian Nelson, CFA On July 12, Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) announced that it had inked a new deal with Uber (UBER) that would allow customers in the U.S. to order Domino’s food through the Uber Eats and Postmates apps with delivery provided by drivers of Domino’s and its franchisees. Domino’s Pizza continues to be a standout leader in digital initiatives across the restaurant arena, and the firm noted that the new agreement will open up Domino’s and its franchisees “to a new segment of customers and what (it) believes will be a meaningful amount of … Read more

Walmart Warns: “Prices Are Still High and There Is Considerable Pressure on the Consumer”

  Image Source: Mike Mozart By Brian Nelson, CFA As we wrote in “The Fed ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” in early January, the trade-down trends that we’re seeing in big box retail and with groceries, more generally, are interesting. Inflation started to accelerate with food-at-home prices moving aggressively higher in early 2022, and consumers have been trading down to better value. It probably wasn’t until egg prices soared, however — driven in part by a shortage of egg laying chickens (not just inflationary pressures) – that tipped everyday consumers to budget more cautiously, and the largest big box retailer in Walmart (WMT) is seeing this impact first-hand. Here’s what’s happening on the ground, per Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon on the … Read more

Something New!

Hi everyone: To stay true to our mission, you’ll find something new regarding our methodology. In the coming weeks, you’ll see this table in our work going forward. We just wanted to let you know. We appreciate your membership very much!   ——————————————— About Our Name But how, you will ask, does one decide what [stocks are] “attractive”? Most analysts feel they must choose between two approaches customarily thought to be in opposition: “value” and “growth,”…We view that as fuzzy thinking…Growth is always a component of value [and] the very term “value investing” is redundant.                          — Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway annual report, 1992 At Valuentum, we take Buffett’s thoughts one step further. We think the best opportunities arise from an understanding of … Read more

Announcing Valuentum’s Customer Appreciation Day Winners!

In no particular order — the five winners… As a Chief Investment Strategist that oversees a significant amount of assets, it is vital to have unbiased research that we can lean on for decision making. Brian and the Valuentum team help provide a disciplined and fundamental approach to stock analysis without the typical Wall Street bias or conflicts of interest. The value we get on a monthly basis for having this detailed thought analysis and wise long-term thinking greatly outweighs the cost. We are very happy to have them on our short list of management we trust.  – Stephen H. (October 2022) —– I’d like you to know what my takeaways are from your research: 1) Be wary of capital … Read more

New Payment Option! Valuentum Research Update!

Hi everyone: — We’re excited to say that we’re adding additional payment flexibility at Valuentum. — Many members have expressed interest in paying via other providers, and we have added Square to the mix. You can use credit or debit card or bank (ACH) to pay via invoice. — With all of the goings-on in the financial technology and payments space, we wanted to continue to provide members options to pay their memberships how they want and through who they want. You can always reach out to us at info@valuentum.com. — You’ll notice that we’ve also tightened our focus at Valuentum during the past 12-24 months in advance of what has certainly become a more difficult 2022 than even some … Read more