YUM! BRANDS INC. $72 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 439.7 million; Market cap: $31.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) plans to open two restaurants in Dallas called Bahn Shop, which specialize in Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. The company is also testing a new fast food outlet called Super Chix, which features chicken sandwiches.
If successful, new banners like these would help Yum offset slowing sales at its U.S. KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants. Yum also raised its quarterly dividend by 10.8%, to $0.41 a share from $0.37. The new annual rate of $1.64 yields 2.3%.
Yum Brands is a buy.