Yum Brands can keep moving higher

Article Excerpt

Yum Brands’ shares have doubled from their pandemic lows. That’s mainly because it continues to expand its popular online ordering platforms and home delivery services. The company also continues to open new outlets. Moreover, franchisees operate most of these stores, which cuts Yum’s costs and lets it focus on improving its prospects with new menu items and marketing initiatives. YUM! BRANDS INC. $135 is a buy. The company (New York symbol YUM; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 281.6 million; Market cap: $38.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.yum.com) operates 55,129 restaurants in over 155 countries—70% of those outlets are outside of the U.S. Its main banners are KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). In the past few years, Yum has shifted most of its outlets to franchisees—they now operate 98% of all locations. As a result, the company gets most of its revenue from fees it charges those operators, usually 3% to 6% of their sales. Yum also…