Domino's reports higher income, sales in 3rd quarter

Domino's Pizza's fiscal third-quarter net income climbed 18 percent as sales improved in the U.S. and overseas.

The pizza chain, headquartered in Ann Arbor Township, has worked hard to expand its operations internationally and opened 121 stores abroad in the quarter. It also surpassed the 10,000 store count worldwide during the quarter.

The chain has also been using its marketing to improve the reputation of its pizzas, reformulating its basic recipe and offering special limited-time pizzas. It also recently rolled out a pan pizza version.

Domino's reported Tuesday that it earned $26 million, or 44 cents per share. That's up from $22.1 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.

Removing a tax benefit of 1 cent per share, earnings were 43 cents per share.

The performance topped the 41 cents per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet expected.

For the period that ended Sept. 9, revenue increased 1 percent to $378.1 million from $376.3 million.

This beat the $376.4 million that Wall Street forecast.

Cost of sales fell about 2 percent in the quarter.

Revenue at U.S. stores open at least a year climbed 3.3 percent. The figure rose 5 percent internationally. This metric is a key indicator of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

The company repurchased and retired 189,718 shares during the quarter at a cost of about $5.9 million.

Domino's Pizza Inc., based in Ann Arbor, Mich., had 10,040 franchised and company-owned stores in the U.S. and more than 70 international markets as of the third quarter.