Domino’s U.S. same-store sales dip amid recession fears, while international growth offsets weakness

Domino's Pizza's first quarter same-store sales in the U.S. unexpectedly declined compared to the corresponding period last year, as fears of a recession caused by President Trump's ambivalent tariff policies loom, leading to many consumers in the U.S. curbing on spending on its fast-food franchisees in the country.

Its U.S. same-store sales—a key metric measuring the revenue growth or decline generated by stores, branches, or locations that have been operating for a certain minimum period, typically more than one year—fell by 0.5% year-over-year. To the uninitiated, the U.S. is Domino's largest market. In a post-earnings call, the leadership of the company also cited its delivery businesses to be adversely affected by limited spending in February and March.

Growth in the company-owned stores fell by 2.9% from the same period last year, whereas the growth in the franchise stores fell by 0.4% from last year. On the other hand, same-store sales in its international stores grew by 3.7% from the same period last year. 

This was despite Domino's Pizza's first-quarter revenue growing marginally by 2.5% from last year to $1.11 billion (₹92,130 crore), primarily due to higher U.S. franchise advertising revenues, higher supply-chain revenues and higher international franchise royalties and fees. 

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based quick service restaurant (QSR) also reported a 18.9% jump in its first-quarter net income to $149.7 million (₹1,275.68 crore), albeit the jump was largely on the back of  $42.7 million (₹363.87 crore) potential profits from its investment in Domino’s China (DPC Dash)—the parent company of Domino’s Pizza China, the exclusive master franchisee of Domino’s Pizza in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau—because the value of that investment went up. 

The company's board has also declared a $1.74 (₹145.29) per share quarterly dividend, and repurchased and retired 115,280 shares of common stock for a total of $50 million (₹426.13 crore). As of March 23, it had a total remaining authorised amount for share repurchases of $764.3 million (₹6,514.6 crore).