Acquisition fuelled earnings

Article Excerpt

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $96 is a buy for aggressive investors. The fast-food operator (Toronto symbol QSR, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 452.0 million; Market cap: $43.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.7; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) has 31,525 fast-food outlets in over 100 countries. Its top banners are Burger King, Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts), Popeyes (fried chicken) and Firehouse Subs. In May 2024, the company acquired the remaining 85% of Carrols Restaurant Group (Nasdaq symbol TAST) for $974 million (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Carrols owns 1,020 Burger King and 60 Popeyes restaurants in the U.S. The purchase lifted sales in the quarter ended December 31, 2024, by 26.2%, to $2.30 billion from $1.82 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 2.2% at Tim Hortons, 1.1% at Burger King, and 0.3% at Firehouse Subs, but fell 0.2% at Popeyes, The company earned $0.81 a share before one-time items in the quarter, up 8.03% from…