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Topic: Growth Stocks

YUM! BRANDS INC. $71

YUM! BRANDS INC. $71 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 408.7 million; Market cap: $29.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) plans to spin off its operations in China as a separate, publicly traded firm.

The company will hand out shares in Yum China to its own investors, who won’t be liable for capital gains taxes until they sell them. The company aims to complete the spinoff by the end of 2016.

Currently, as a unit, Yum China operates 7,176 fast-food outlets (as of December 26, 2015) under the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell banners. In 2015, this division supplied 53% of Yum’s overall sales.

After the spinoff, the parent company will operate 35,500 restaurants outside China. It plans to have franchisees run 95% of them by the end of 2017. Yum will also earn licensing revenue from Yum China.

Yum’s overall sales fell 1.3%, to $13.1 billion in 2015 from $13.3 billion in 2014. That’s mainly due to unfavourable currency exchange rates. As well, samestore sales in China fell 4% as food safety fears continue to hurt traffic at Yum’s KFC outlets.

Outside of China, KFC’s same-store sales rose 3%, on strong growth in other developing markets and the U.S. A successful new breakfast menu increased Taco Bell’s same-store sales by 5%. Pizza Hut’s same-store sales rose 1%, as gains in emerging nations helped make up for slowing sales in established markets.

Excluding one-time items, earnings per share gained 2.9%, to $3.18 from $3.09.

The stock trades at a reasonable 17.5 times the $4.05 a share it will likely earn in 2016. However, the stock will make little progress until sales at its Chinese outlets improve. It’s also facing stronger competition in China from other fast-food companies such as Mc- Donald’s. The $1.84 dividend yields 2.6%.

Yum Brands is a hold.

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