Shares of Domino's Pizza (DPZ 0.87%) took a big hit on Thursday after it delivered a disappointing fourth-quarter report and discouraging guidance. The pizza company's more than 11% share price decline for the session was painful for its current shareholders -- but is it a buying opportunity for investors who have been watching from the sidelines?

Here's a closer look at Domino's fourth-quarter report, as well as an examination of whether or not the stock looks attractive now.

A disappointing update

Domino's Pizza, which makes money from a combination of company-owned stores, franchise royalties and fees, and sales of pizza supplies, saw its revenue increase by 3.6% year over year to $1.39 billion in the fourth quarter. Not only was this a substantial slowdown from 7.1% growth in the prior quarter, it was meaningfully below analysts' average forecast for revenue of $1.44 billion. A key factor underlying the quarter's weakness was a substantial slowdown in U.S. comparable-store sales growth. Comps at U.S. stores grew by just 0.9%, down from 2% growth last quarter.

More troubling was the company's outlook. Citing the weak macroeconomic environment, which is negatively impacting its U.S. delivery business, Domino's lowered its expectations for 6% to 10% global retail sales growth (adjusted for foreign currency impacts) over the next two to three years to a range of 4% to 8%. It also lowered its forecast for unit growth for the same period to a range of 5% to 7% growth, down from a previous guidance range of 6% to 8%.

The bull case

With such disappointing news, it's easy to see why the stock sold off on Thursday. But that lower stock price may be enough to discount the company's gloomier outlook. In addition, there are some positive things about Domino's business worth highlighting.

First, while management expects lower levels of growth than it was previously anticipating, guidance for 4% to 8% retail sales growth per year over the next two to three years is still impressive considering the macroeconomic environment. Indeed, that sales growth range is higher than the company's 2022 growth rate of 3.9%. Domino's forecast highlights the potential resilience of its business during tough times.

It's also worth noting that the company's recent adjustments in pricing are leading to an inflection in profitability. After reporting a decline in earnings per share in Q3, this profitability metric increased 4.2% year over year in the fourth quarter. "[W]e hope that as we move into '23, this continues to accelerate," said Chief Financial Officer Sandeep Reddy on the fourth-quarter earnings call about Domino's earnings per share growth.

Then there's Domino's rapidly growing dividend. The company said it's increasing its quarterly payout by 10% to $1.21. At current share prices, that gives the restaurant stock a 1.6% yield. Given that it's only paying out about a third of its earnings in dividends today, more dividend growth is likely in the coming years.

Considering all of this alongside the stock's reasonable valuation (it trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 24 at the time of this writing), Domino's shares actually look reasonably attractive at this level. While the stock certainly isn't a bargain, buying a small position to hold for the long term might be a decent idea now that shares have sold off a bit.