Menu change spurs growth for QSR

Article Excerpt

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $53 (Toronto symbol QSR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 429.3 million; Market cap: $22.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.1; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) operates 4,438 Tim Hortons coffee and donut locations and 15,008 Burger King outlets in 100 countries. If you exclude restructuring costs and other unusual items, Restaurant Brands earned $142.1 million in the three months ended March 31, 2016 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That’s up 92.3% from $73.9 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 87.5%, to $0.30 from $0.16. The higher profits came mainly from lower costs and the introduction of more high-profit menu items. Sales fell 1.6%, to $918.5 million from $933.3 million. However, if you exclude the negative impact of the U.S. dollar on Restaurant Brands’ overseas operations, sales in the quarter gained 6.0%. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 7.1%, to…