By Connor Hart and Kelly Cloonan

Domino's Pizza guided for same-store sales to grow this year, though management warned that persisting macroeconomic pressures could pose a threat to its outlook.

The forecast came as the pizza chain on Monday logged lower-than-expected profit and sales in the first quarter, during which it faced what Chief Executive Russell Weiner called a challenging global macroeconomic environment.

Shares, which edged lower in pre-market trading, have rebounded and were recently flat at $488.79. Despite having gained 16% since the beginning of the year, the stock is down 7.4% in the past 52 weeks.

Comparable sales, which account for store openings and closings, are expected to rise 3% in the U.S. and between 1% and 2% internationally in 2025. The forecasts take into account geopolitical volatility that is likely to hurt demand, Chief Financial Officer Sandeep Reddy said, warning that persisting macroeconomic pressures could further ding results.

"We want to be very careful and mindful that there's a lot of volatility from a geopolitical perspective," he said. "There could be a potential downstream impact on demand."

Cost-saving moves, including the reduction of some corporate roles, and growth initiatives, such as the launch of new menu items, are expected to help counteract these obstacles and drive results in the latter half of the year, CEO Weiner said.

Weiner didn't share an exact figure but said Domino's cut some roles this year, which resulted in about $5 million in severance expenses during the first quarter. The cuts will allow the chain to operate more efficiently and faster, and future savings from the role reductions will be invested back into the business, he added.

The company doesn't expect tariffs to materially affect its operating profits.

The outlook came as Domino's posted a profit of $149.7 million for the quarter ended March 23, compared with $125.8 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings came in at $4.33, below the $4.53 that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Revenue rose 2.5%, to $1.11 billion, but missed the $1.13 billion that analysts modeled.

U.S. same-store sales swung to a 0.5% decline, while international same-store sales rose 3.7%, excluding the effects from foreign currency.

Higher international franchise royalties and fees and higher revenue from supply chain and U.S. franchise advertising drove the increased overall revenue, the company said.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com and Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2025 11:29 ET (15:29 GMT)

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