Domino's delivers: Jubilant becomes best-performing mid-cap stock of 2018

A steep cut in the sales tax rate applicable for restaurants, an increase in menu prices and a revival in consumer sentiment have all led to buoyant sales and profit forecasts for the company

Mid-cap stocks in India may not be having their best year, but there is one bright spot among these companies.

After a stellar 106 per cent rally last year, the Indian operator of Domino’s Pizza - Jubilant Foodworks Ltd. - is the best-performing mid-cap stock so far in 2018.

A steep cut in the sales tax rate applicable for restaurants last year, an increase in menu prices and a revival in consumer sentiment in the world’s second-most populous nation have all led to buoyant sales and profit forecasts for the company. Jubilant’s same-store sales growth is expected to be “bolstered” by as much as 600 basis points for the next few quarters, according to CLSA India Pvt.

To read on McDonald’s legal problem in pizza-loving India, click here

Shares have jumped 39 per cent this year compared with the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex’s 0.7 per cent decline and the NSE Nifty MidCap 100 Index’s more than 7 per cent drop.

Nearly 70 per cent of the 32 analysts that track the stock have a buy or equivalent rating on it, the highest ratio in more than two years, and the company’s annual net income for the 12 months ended March 31, 2018 is expected to rise for the first time in five years, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.