Short sellers sharply increased their bets against DPZ ahead of Monday's Q1 print. Analysts slashed targets across the board after weak SSS data emerged in March.
Short interest hit 10.4% of float as of April 23, up 48% over the past month. Shares short climbed from 2.4 million in mid-March to 3.5 million currently. Days to cover stands at 4.15 according to FINRA's latest fortnightly report. Cost to borrow ticked up 14% over the past week to 0.48%, while utilisation sits at 21.4%—near its 52-week high of 22.3%. The surge in short positioning began in late March and has persisted into the earnings window.
The put-call ratio reached 1.98 on April 24, elevated versus the 20-day mean of 1.65. The z-score of 1.54 signals above-average bearish positioning. PCR briefly touched 2.18 on April 22-23, the highest level since late March. The 52-week range spans 0.93 to 2.27, placing current sentiment in the top third of the annual distribution.
Consensus pricing data shows a mean target of $462, though recent moves have been uniformly negative. JP Morgan lowered its target to $440 from $450 on April 24 while maintaining Overweight. Morgan Stanley cut to $430 from $455 on April 21. Benchmark slashed its target to $465 from $540 on April 20. UBS, RBC Capital, TD Cowen, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo all reduced targets between late March and mid-April. The wave of cuts followed disappointing same-store sales data. Benzinga's bear case notes the company reported a 7.2% year-over-year SSS drop in the first eight weeks of the year, with global unit growth of just 4% missing expectations. The bull case highlights the 99% franchised model and productivity gains from the vertically integrated supply chain.
The P/E multiple rose to 18.4, up 0.43 points over the past 30 days. EV/EBITDA climbed to 15.3, up 0.19 over the same period. Factor scores place DPZ in the 60th percentile on EPS momentum (30d and 12m forward), but only the 5th percentile on analyst recommendation divergence. Dividend score ranks at the 100th percentile.
Insiders sold $3.7 million net over the past 90 days. CEO Russell Weiner sold $190,000 worth in mid-March, while CFO Sandeep Reddy offloaded $122,000. Berkshire Hathaway holds 10% of shares outstanding, adding 368,000 shares in Q4 2025. Vanguard increased its stake by 123,000 shares to 10.9% as of March 31.
Domino's last reported earnings on February 23. The stock has gained 2.1% over the past month despite analyst downgrades, but slipped 1.2% on April 24.
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