Domino's Coverage Skimped on the Meat

Domino's (DPZ Quote) is, in a word, a Godforsaken mess. OK, that's more than a word, but you get the point. The Associated Press, much to The Business Press Maven's chagrin, did not.

Look at this headline, which ran Tuesday night: "Domino's Pizza shares up after company reports 1Q profit." The AP began its lead with the same claim before launching into a second clause that rendered news of that big rise as meaningless as gills on a bird:

"Shares of pizza delivery chain Domino's Pizza Inc. rose Tuesday after the company reported a big rise in first-quarter profit, helped by expenses that weighed down the year-ago results."

After a breathless headline and first clause of the lead momentarily tricked The Business Press Maven into thinking that Domino's has fixed its problems, which are crust-deep everywhere but overseas, we get this:

"Before the market opened Tuesday, Domino's said a recapitalization in 2007 led to far lower results in the year ago quarter. Excluding those expenses, the company's profit would have fallen in the 2008 first quarter."

That headline profit? It was worth as much as a two-week-old anchovy on the secondary market.

They Just Don't Get Domino's!

We then hear that U.S. same-store sales were down more than 5% before hearing from an analyst that they'll probably fall further because of a spate of lower-priced offerings. But then, referencing the meager 21-cent rise, we get this all's-well-if-it-goes-up-a-few-ticks summary in the kicker: "Still, investors seemed to focus on the company's international sales results and its profit rise."

If The Business Press Maven seems to be curbing his enthusiasm, it is because the stock's roughly 1% rise happened on a day in which the market moved within just two points of that. Could this have just been one big and misguided buyer and not the plural "investors" allegedly drawn to the stock by "profits?" You bet your ultimate deep dish it could.