Two new buys for dividend investors

Article Excerpt

This month, we’re adding two of the world’s leading fast-food operators—Restaurant Brands and Starbucks—to our regular TSI Dividend Advisor coverage. Both firms are using their strong brands to expand overseas, which should continue to spur long-term earnings growth. Their embrace of new tech to drive orders and lower costs should further spur earnings and let them keep raising your dividends. Each is a buy for income investors. RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $93 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbol QSR, High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 453.0 million; Market cap: $42.1 billion; Dividend yield: 3.3%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.rbi.com) is one of the world’s largest operators of fast-food restaurants. It has 30,125 outlets in over 100 countries: 18,935 Burger King, 5,662 Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts), 4,269 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (fried chicken) and 1,259 Firehouse Subs. Franchisees operate almost all of those outlets. The company has paid regular dividends since it took its current form following the 2014 merger between Canada’s Tim…