Dividend hike a sign of confidence

Article Excerpt

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $86 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbol QSR, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 450.9 million; Market cap: $38.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) operates 30,722 fast-food outlets in over 100 countries: 19,789 Burger King, 5,600 Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts), 4,091 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (fried chicken) and 1,242 Firehouse Subs. Overall sales in the quarter ended December 31, 2022, rose 9.2%, to $1.69 billion from $1.57 billion a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). That gain was largely because the company raised its selling prices in response to higher costs for food ingredients, fuel and labour. Those higher costs also cut its earnings before unusual items by 2.7%, to $0.72 a share from $0.74. The company will raise your quarterly dividend by 1.9% with the April 2023 payment. The new annual rate of $2.20 a share yields a solid 3.5%. The stock…