QSR offers growth plus a high 4.5% yield

Article Excerpt

Restaurant Brands acquired a top asset when it bought Firehouse Subs for $1.0 billion in December 2021. That buy is now fuelling sales and profit gains. RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL, $48.66, is a buy. The company (New York symbol QSR; TSI Rating: Average) (www.rbi.com; Shares o/s: 478.0 million; Market cap: $23.3 billion; Yield: 4.4%) has 29,576 outlets in over 100 countries: 19,266 Burger King, 5,320 Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts), 3,771 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (fried chicken) and 1,219 Firehouse Subs. Restaurant Brands’ overall sales in the quarter ended March 31, 2022, rose 15.2%, to $1.45 billion from $1.26 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 8.4% at Tim Hortons, 10.3% at Burger King and 4.2% at Firehouse Subs. That offset 3.0% lower same-store sales at Popeyes. The company earned $0.64 a share in the latest quarter. That was up 16.4% from $0.55. Its balance sheet is also sound. As of March 31, 2022, the company held cash of $895.0 million, and its long-term debt of $12.9…