These fast-food operators focus on growth

Article Excerpt

YUM! BRANDS INC. $103 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 305.9 million; Market cap: $31.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.yum.com) operates 48,000 restaurants in over 140 countries. Its main banners are KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). The U.S. accounts for 45% of its overall sales and earnings. The stock has gained 40% since the company set up its Yum China subsidiary (see below) as a separate firm on November 1, 2016. Yum Brand shareholders then received one share in the new firm for each YUM share they held. The gain is largely due to Yum Brand’s success at controlling costs, including selling stores to franchisees. That lowers its operating expenses and frees the company from maintaining these outlets. Yum has now achieved its goal of having franchisees operate 98% of its stores. The company’s biggest single franchisee remains Yum China. Under the terms of the spinoff, the now-independent Chinese…