These two have a digital advantage

Article Excerpt

In November 2016, Yum Brands set up its Chinese operations as Yum China and gifted its investors with shares in the new company. Specifically, investors received one share of the new firm for each YUM share they held. Both stocks have suffered lately as price-conscious consumers spend less on fast food. However, both are expanding their digital platforms. That lets them create specialized offers and speed up service. Both should spur customer traffic and encourage higher spending per visit. YUM! BRANDS INC. $138 is a buy. The company (New York symbol YUM; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 281.2 million; Market cap: $38.8 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.yum.com) operates over 59,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries—65% of those outlets are outside of the U.S. Its main banners are KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). Franchisees operate 98% of those outlets. Yum aims to fuel its growth by increasing the number of outlets by 4% to 5% a year. In the…