Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle will step down from his post this weekend but analyst Matthew DiFrisco told CNBC that the company has the right recipe for continued success.
“Personalized marketing is the key,” DiFrisco, managing director at Guggenheim Securities, said on “Power Lunch” Friday.
“They’re combining the digital investment with value proposition and also a tremendous amount of menu innovation,” he said. “They’ve combined that with the connectivity that digital allows them to have with their customer base.”
DiFrisco pointed out that 85 percent of the pizza chain’s menu falls under the $5.99 price point and has been added to the menu since 2010, the same year current Doyle became CEO.
On Sunday, Richard Allison, currently president of international business for Domino’s, will take over as CEO, leaving some investors wondering about the company’s continued growth prospects.
In the eight years Doyle has been chief executive, the company’s stock has risen nearly 2,000 percent. Domino’s overall market share in the pizza category went from 9.7 percent in 2010 to 16.4 percent in 2017, according to analysts at BTIG. The company’s market share in the pizza delivery category has also increased by about 10 percent since 2008.
In April, Domino’s beat earning estimates by nearly $100 million, causing its shares to surge by more than 7 percent. Domino’s credited investments in technology, such as Hotspots and artificial intelligence voice-ordering systems, as growth drivers.
The company is currently piloting voice system in about 20 stores. Meanwhile, customers can now order from approximately 200,000 Hotspots, or nontraditional locales such as beaches and sports stadiums. That means pizza lovers and convenience-seeking consumers alike can request their Domino’s meal from a park bench or a bus stop, among other locations, without ever having to talk to another human being.
“It’s our path to being a 100 percent digital company,” Allison told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in April.
Guggenheim rates the stock a buy and set a price target of $305.
DiFrisco said the restaurant’s low-priced fare has been a key ingredient in its success.
“They’ve built their check to about $20 now, an average transaction,” the analyst said. “Not only the $5.99 price point, but people are getting the sodas and getting the bread sticks and adding on to that.”
The pizza giant, which began as a single store in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1960, has an opportunity to expand its take-out menu as well as U.S. store base, the analyst said. The company currently has more than 14,000 shops internationally and sells more than 2 million pizzas each day, or about 1 in 6 pizzas in the U.S.
“I think they could look at and have an opportunity to expand into the personalized pizza market,” DiFrisco said. “You’re seeing a lot of growth in the quick-casual pizza segment. That’s a new avenue that could elevate the brand further and help the health aspects of the food and the menu.”
WATCH: Incoming and outgoing Domino’s Pizza CEOs talk earnings with Jim Cramer