Domino’s Stock Gets Baird Upgrade As Analyst Sees ‘Clearer Path’ To Improved Sales

Baird raised its rating on Domino's Pizza to 'Outperform' from 'Neutral' and increased its price target to $400 from $320, according to The Fly.

• Baird analyst Chris O’Cull said recent management meetings reinforced the firm’s view that Domino’s promotional strategy has become more balanced, supporting better ticket performance without meaningfully disrupting transactions, The Fly reported.
• Baird said weaker performance in 2026 could weigh on Domino's unit growth in 2027, although investors largely anticipate the slowdown, according to Investing.com.
• Thirteen out of 30 analysts covering the stock rate it ‘Buy’ or ‘Strong Buy’, whereas 16 rate it ‘Hold’ and one rates it 'Sell’, according to Koyfin.

DPZ shares were upgraded by Baird on Friday, with analyst Chris O'Cull citing a clearer path to improved same-store sales performance and franchisee profitability.

According to The Fly, Baird raised its rating on Domino's Pizza to 'Outperform' from 'Neutral' and increased its price target to $400 from $320.The revised target implies approximately 20% upside from the stock's last closing price.

Thirteen out of 30 analysts covering the stock rate it ‘Buy’ or ‘Strong Buy’, whereas 16 rate it ‘Hold’ and one rates it 'Sell,’ according to Koyfin. Their 12-month price targets range from $257 to $425, with an average of $356.48.

DPZ shares traded 2.15% higher in premarket trading at the time of writing. However, retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained in the ‘bearish’ territory in the past 24 hours.

Why Is Baird Positive On Domino's Promotional Strategy?

Recent management meetings reinforced Baird's view that Domino's promotional strategy has become more balanced, supporting better ticket performance without meaningfully disrupting transactions, according to The Fly.

Baird said healthy order growth has been offset by declining ticket performance, reflecting fewer items per order, extended promotional deal windows, and limited pricing, according to Investing.com.

The firm noted that Domino's is shortening promotional deal windows and introducing products that encourage add-on purchases rather than relying on pricing to increase order values, according to Investing.com.

Baird expects this approach to support more balanced comparable sales growth. Ticket performance improved sequentially in the third quarter, and the firm expects further improvement in the fourth quarter as these initiatives gain traction, according to the report.

Baird believes easier same-store sales comparisons and early signs of improving trends at Domino's Pizza Enterprises could also help improve investor sentiment, according to The Fly.

However, the firm noted that weaker performance in 2026 could weigh on Domino's unit growth in 2027, although the firm believes investors largely anticipate this slowdown, according to Investing.com.

How Did Domino's Perform In The Third Quarter?

Domino’s reported third-quarter revenue of $1.19 billion, up from $1.15 billion a year earlier, while diluted earnings per share increased to $4.60 from $4.08. Both figures exceeded analyst estimates of $1.17 billion in revenue and $4.38 in EPS, according to Fiscal.ai.

However, U.S. same-store sales growth slowed to 0.3% from 5.2% in the year-ago quarter, while international same-store sales increased 0.2%. Global retail sales rose 3.2% to $4.84 billion, compared with 6.3% growth in the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead, Domino’s expects the challenging macroeconomic environment to weigh on consumers through the remainder of 2026. CFO Sandeep Reddy said the company now expects U.S. same-store sales growth to land toward the low end of its previously stated low-single-digit range for the year.

DPZ shares have dropped over 18% year-to-date.

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