RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL $34.51 (New York symbol QSR; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (905-845-6511; www.rbi.com; Shares outstanding: 467.0 million; Market cap: $16.1 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%) took its current form on December 12, 2014, after Burger King Worldwide acquired Tim Hortons. The company is the world’s third-largest fast-food operator, after McDonald’s and Yum Brands, with 15,004 Burger King outlets and 4,413 Tim Hortons stores in 100 countries. In the three months ended December 31, 2015, Restaurant Brands earned $165.7 million, up 31.7% from $125.8 million a year earlier. Earnings per share gained 34.6%, to $0.35 from $0.26, on fewer shares outstanding. Sales fell 3.3%, to $1.06 billion from $1.09 billion, as the high U.S. dollar hurt the contribution from Restaurant Brands’ overseas operations. However, if you exclude the negative impact of the U.S. dollar on its overseas operations, sales gained 10.5%. Tim Hortons’ same-store sales rose 6.3%, thanks to new lunch wraps and strong demand for its coffee and other beverages. Burger King’s same-store sales gained 3.9%, also due to new items such as chicken fries and a Halloween Whopper. Restaurant Brands is raising its quarterly dividend by 7.7% with the April 2016 payment. The stock now yields 1.6%. The company’s outlook is positive, but it trades at a high 27.2 times its forecast 2016 earnings of $1.27 a share. Restaurant Brands is a hold.