Spinoff spotlight: Yum China Holdings

Article Excerpt

YUM CHINA HOLDINGS INC. $57 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (New York symbol YUMC; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 418.4 million; Market cap: $23.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.8%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.yumchina.com) is China’s largest fast-food operator with 12,409 outlets, mainly under the KFC and Pizza Hut banners. On November 1, 2016, Yum Brands Inc. (New York symbol YUM) spun off Yum China as a separate firm. Investors received one new share for each Yum Brands share held. Despite COVID-19 lockdowns in China, Yum China’s sales in the third quarter of 2022 rose 5.1%, to $2.68 billion from $2.55 billion a year earlier. That’s because it opened 621 new stores (net of closures). Same-store sales were unchanged. Better efficiency lifted earnings by 122.7%, to $0.49 a share from last year’s depressed figure of $0.22. Yum China is a buy. buy…