DPZ Our Meeting with Management in Ann Arbor
We recently met with Domino’s (DPZ; Buy) — including CEO Ritch Allison, Executive Vice President and CFO Jeff Lawrence, and Director of Investor Relations Chris Brandon — in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We thank them for their time! Topics of interest that were asked about include Domino’s plans to fight off delivery aggregators and other competition (“The good news is, the strategies to play offense against the aggregators are exactly the same as the strategies to play offense against the traditional competition.”), how crisis (such as the possibility of higher protein costs given the risks brought about by African swine fever) could be a net positive for Domino’s, and Domino’s current thoughts regarding plant-based proteins (“We don’t have any imminent plans in place, but we have to stay on top of it and see what consumers are going to do.” Management said that when they have tried some of the latest plant-based offerings, the “flavor and texture are shockingly close” to real beef). We reiterate our Buy rating on DPZ, and note the following: