The Restaurant Stock Warren Buffett Bought Is Up. Here’s the One His Successor Will Likely Buy Next

Warren Buffett made a quiescent but telling determination erstwhile Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B) disclosed a presumption successful Domino's Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ) successful precocious 2024. The logic was axenic Buffett: a franchise-heavy, cash-generating instrumentality with pricing powerfulness and a loyal lawsuit base. Since that purchase, the banal has had a bumpy ride. But with Greg Abel acceptable to instrumentality the reins astatine Berkshire, the question worthy asking is what edifice banal his successor mightiness scope for next.

Domino's isn't precisely lighting up the scoreboard lately. The banal is down astir 14% implicit the past year, sitting astatine $402.70 against a 52-week precocious of $493.25. That said, the underlying concern tells a antithetic story.

In Q4 2025, Domino's posted U.S. same-store income maturation of 3.7% and opened 392 nett caller stores globally, bringing its full footprint to 22,142 locations. Free currency travel surged 31% for the afloat twelvemonth to $671.5 million. The committee besides approved a 15% quarterly dividend summation to $1.99 per share.

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CEO Russell Weiner enactment it plainly connected the net call: "In 2025 we demonstrated that erstwhile we execute our Hungry for MORE strategy it delivers MORE sales, MORE stores, and MORE profits." That's the benignant of capital-light, franchise-driven compounding that Berkshire has ever loved. Think of Domino's similar a toll span -- franchisees wage to usage the marque and proviso chain, and Domino's collects royalties whether the system is booming oregon struggling.

The astir logical campaigner for Abel's archetypal edifice determination is Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG). The banal is down astir 31% implicit the past year, trading astir $37 -- good disconnected its 52-week precocious of $58.42. Berkshire has historically shown involvement successful fundamentally beardown businesses during periods of terms weakness.

Chipotle generated $1.4 cardinal successful escaped currency travel successful Q4 2025 unsocial and plans to unfastened 350 to 370 caller restaurants successful 2026. It carries a cleanable equilibrium expanse with $2.8 cardinal successful shareholders' equity -- a stark opposition to Domino's leveraged structure. The guardant P/E sits astir 31x, which is not inexpensive by Buffett standards, but Abel has signaled a willingness to wage up for quality.