These restaurants face different risks

Article Excerpt

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL $57.71 (New York symbol QSR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.rbi.com; Shares o/s: 478.0 million; Market cap: $27.6 billion; Divd. yield: 3.1%) is the world’s third-largest fast-food operator after McDonald’s (No. 1) and Yum Brands (No. 2). It has 16,767 Burger King, 4,748 Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts) and 2,892 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (fried chicken) outlets in over 100 countries. In the quarter ended December 31, 2017, the company’s overall sales rose 11.0%, to $1.23 billion from $1.11 billion a year earlier. The higher sales are mainly due to the purchase of the Popeyes chain in March 2017 for $1.64 billion. Same-store sales in the quarter improved 4.6% at Burger King and 0.1% at Tim Hortons. However, same-store sales for Popeyes fell 1.3%. If you exclude costs related to that recent acquisition, the company earned $0.66 a share in the quarter. That’s a gain of 50.0% from $0.44 a year earlier. In April 2018, Restaurant Brands will raise its quarterly dividend by…