Stock advice: International expansion boosts this dividend paying stock’s results

Yum! Brands Inc., symbol YUM on New York, operates nearly 38,000 fast-food restaurants in over 110 countries. Its main banners include KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). Yum has announced it will sell its Long John Silver’s (seafood) and its A&W (burgers) chains. You can get our full analysis, including our clear stock advice, on Yum in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that covers the U.S. markets. In the three months ended March 19, 2011, Yum’s sales rose 3.4%, to $2.43 billion from $2.35 billion a year earlier. Overall sales rose 28% in China, where same-store sales rose 13%. Yum also opened 92 new restaurants there. The international division, which excludes China, opened 131 new restaurants. Earnings for the quarter rose 9.5%, to $264.0 million from $241.0 million. Earnings per share items, rose 8.0%, to $0.54 from $0.50 a year earlier. Excluding unusual items, earnings per share rose 6.8%, to $0.63 from $0.59. The dividend paying stock’s quarterly payout is $0.25 a share. The annual rate of $1.00 yields 1.9%. If you’re looking for stock advice on U.S. companies, including dividend paying stocks like Yum, you should subscribe to Wall Street Stock Forecaster. What’s more, you can get one month free when you subscribe today. Click here to learn how.

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.