Fast-food stocks should gain from re-opening

Article Excerpt

These three fast-food operators have held up well during the pandemic. That’s thanks to their pre-COVID-19 investments in online ordering, drive-thru takeout lanes and home delivery services. Now, as they re-open their stores, their shares should continue to move higher. STARBUCKS CORP. $77 is a buy. The stock (Nasdaq symbol SBUX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $92.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.8; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.starbucks.com) lets you tap this leading seller and roaster of specialty coffee. It has 32,180 outlets in roughly 80 countries. Licensees operate about half of those stores. Due to the temporary shutdown of stores as a result of the pandemic, Starbucks’ sales in its fiscal 2020 third quarter, ended June 28, 2020, fell 38.1%, to $4.22 billion from $6.82 billion a year earlier. The company added 130 new stores, net of closures. However, due to the lockdowns, Starbucks’ same-store sales fell 40%. The company lost $0.46 a share in the quarter, before…