Domino’s cookin’ in Q2

Domino’s is raking in the dough. The reason Americans are ordering more pizza may or may not be because of political and social strife, but one thing is certain: They are ordering more pies from Domino’s.

The 12,900-store franchise on Thursday turned in piping hot second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and included a very impressive 9.1 percent jump in same-store sales in the US.

The uptick in traffic helped the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain produce a 7.3 percent increase in profits, to $49.3 million, or $1 a share, on a 12 percent rise in revenue, to $547.3 million, from the year-earlier period.

Investors cheered the results, pushing shares up 5.7 percent on Thursday, to $144.66. The pizzamaker’s shares are up more than 468 percent over the past five years.

“This was a tremendous quarter for our domestic business,” said Domino’s Chief Executive J. Patrick Doyle on an earnings call with analysts. “We have reached 90 consecutive quarters of positive growth, and it’s our 21st consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales.”

What’s more, Domino’s is beating back its competition — and not just rival pie slingers.

The $7.4 billion company’s results “likely will end up being the best of any of the 25 largest US restaurant chains for the second quarter,” Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski wrote in a research note.

Domino’s attributed some of its growth to its new “zero click ordering” mobile app that enables customers to fill out their pizza profiles and skip swiping or clicking.