Dunkin Brands: After 'Lukewarm' Guidance, Sozzi Talks About The 'Cronut' With CFO Paul Carbone

Dunkin Brands Group Inc DNKN reported its fourth-quarter and fiscal year 2014 financial results on Thursday.

In an article published on The Street, Brian Sozzi called the guidance “lukewarm,” and links it to “unsavory price competition in good old-fashioned brewed java.” He said that the company experiences the most price competition in traditional drip coffee, which he believes tastes the same in Starbucks Corporation SBUX and McDonald's Corporation MCD. Meanwhile, higher-priced coffee has found some resistance from consumers, and this has been reflected in the results.

However, Dunkin’s CFO Paul Carbone seems more positive about the year ahead, and believes that new product launches (especially premium priced beverages and foods) will help the company deliver stronger results.

Related Link: Dunkin Brands CEO: 'Millennials Like Our Products'

"The most competitive area of the menu is beverages, everyone wants to be in the beverage business it's a high margin item, and some competitors have found that you could use beverages as a loss leader but still have them be profitable," Carbone told Sozzi.

Carbone then continued to talk about the new menu items: “Some of the things I have seen, that we have here (at HQ), are a filled croissant donut, a croissant donut with icing on top and while I haven't seen this yet, there could be a shaped croissant donut.”

He then named some new breakfast sandwiches, an item that performed satisfactorily in the most recent quarter.