Domino's Pizza shares have plunged, despite the company posting a "record" profit.
The fast food chain is of the most shorted stocks on the ASX, with many investors betting on its price falls.
The company's stocks fell 12 per cent to $46.15 at 10:35am (AEST).
Earlier, Domino's full-year profit lifted 13 per cent to $121.7 million amid higher sales and the opening of more stores.
However, this result fell short of market expectations of around $136.8 million and its own forecast of 20 per cent growth.
The company reported its sales rose 11.7 per cent to $2.59 billion.
Its revenue increased 7 per cent to $1.15 billion, and network sales lifted 11.7 per cent to $2.59 billion.
Domino's also opened about six stores per week in the 2017-18 financial year across Australia, Europe and Japan.
145 of these were new stores built by the company, while 163 were taken over from other brands — European chains Hallo Pizza and Pizza Sprint — and converted into Domino's stores.
The company incurred $14.5 million in transaction costs while acquiring and converting the European franchises.
But when that significant one-off item is excluded, Domino's achieved a "record" underlying profit of $136.2 million, which is a 15 per cent gain on last year.
Europe was Domino's best performing market, with sales rising 16.9 per cent to 643 million euro ($1 billion).
This was followed by its Australian stores, which saw its sales rise 7.7 per cent to $1.2 billion, and its Japanese stores which lifted 3.2 per cent to 41.4 billion yen ($515 million).
The company will pay its shareholders a final dividend of 49.7 cents per share (75 per cent franked).
This takes its full-year dividend 15.5 per cent higher at $1.078 per share.
