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Domino’s high on Ackman news

Activist investor swaps holdings in Starbucks for 6% slice of delivery chain

MARTIN BACCARDAX

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman told the Wall Street Journal’s “Future of Everything Festival” that he has built a 6 per cent stake in the pizza delivery chain.

Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) shares traded at an all-time high Wednesday amid reports that activist investor Bill Ackman has taken a position in the country’s largest pizza delivery chain.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital had taken a 6 per cent stake in Domino’s, while noting that he had “swapped” his holdings in Starbucks (SBUX) in order to bet on a restaurant group that he called a “big international growth opportunity” that also “owns their own delivery structure.”

Ackman noted his stake was priced at around $330 (U.S.) per share, in comments that were reported from the Wall Street Journal’s “Future of Everything Festival” in New York.

Domino’s Pizza shares rose 2.7 per cent Wednesday to change hands at $425.44 each, a move that would extend the stock’s year-to-date gain to around 14.2 per cent.

Starbucks shares, meanwhile, fell 2.9 per cent to $109.79 each, trimming their 2021 gain to around 4.3 per cent. The stock hit an all-time high of $447.50 earlier in the session.

Last month, Domino’s posted stronger-than-expected first quarter earnings of $3 per share, but revenues of $983.7 million — a 12.7 per cent increase from last year — missed Street forecasts

U.S. same-store sales gained 13.4 per cent, beating analysts’ estimate of 9.7 per cent. And international same-store sales climbed 11.8 per cent, besting predictions of 6 per cent.

Starbucks also posted softer than-expected March quarter revenues of $6.67 billion, although adjusted profits of 62 cents per share handily beat the Street consensus forecast of 53 cents per share.

Ackman boosted his prior position in Starbucks to around 10 per cent in April of 2020, and noted as recently as November that he was confident the world’s biggest coffee chain would continue to perform well even after the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

BUSINESS

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2021-05-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

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