Olympics boost Domino's Pizza results; shares jump

Advertising posters adorn a wall outside a small Domino's Pizza restaurant located in a shopping mall in central Beijing June 12, 2012.

(Reuters) - Domino's Pizza Inc (DPZ.N) reported higher quarterly profit, topping Wall Street forecasts, as the Summer Olympics boosted sales.

Sales at established restaurants increased more than expected in the United States and abroad, and shares in the No. 2 U.S. pizza chain jumped 7.1 percent.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company's new pan pizzas appear to be delivering more sales in the United States, analysts said. Those sales came after the close of the third quarter and suggest that fourth quarter sales "could be building rather nicely," Oppenheimer Equity Research analyst Brian Bittner said in a client note.

Net income grew to $26 million, or 44 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter, ended September 9, from $22.1 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items related to writing off deferred financing fees and interest expense, the company earned 43 cents per share in the latest quarter. That was 2 cents better than analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose to $378.1 million from $376.3 million.

Sales at stores open at least a year were up 3.3 percent in the United States and up 5 percent internationally.

Domino's competes with Yum Brands Inc's (YUM.N) Pizza Hut, the No. 1 pizza chain, and Papa John's International Inc (PZZA.O).

Shares in Domino's were up $2.73 to $40.96 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting By Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by John Wallace)