We still like these fast-food spinoffs

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 continue to rebound from pandemic closures, partly due to their successful digital ordering platforms that speed up service and encourage higher spending per visit. Thanks to their improving earnings, both companies also continue to reward investors with rising dividends. YUM! BRANDS INC. $148 is a buy. The company (New York symbol YUM; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 279.1 million; Market cap: $41.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.9%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.yum.com) operates over 60,000 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 opened 1,804 gross new outlets (it did not report store closures) in the quarter ended December 31, 2024. That…