QSR boosts dividend on strong earnings

Article Excerpt

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $43 (New York symbol QSR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 467.6 million; Market cap: $20.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 1.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) is the world’s third-largest fast-food operator, after McDonald’s (No. 1) and Yum Brands (No. 2), with 15,243 Burger King outlets and 4,492 Tim Hortons stores in 100 countries. Thanks to more savings from the December 2014 merger of Tim Hortons and Burger King, the company’s earnings in the quarter ended September 30, 2016, rose 32.8%, to $201.4 million from $151.6 million a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share jumped 34.4% in the quarter, to $0.43 from $0.32. Overall sales gained 5.5% in the quarter, to $1.08 billion from $1.02 billion. Tim Hortons’ same-store sales rose 2.0%, thanks to new lunch wraps and potato wedges. Burger King’s same-store sales improved 1.7%, also due to new menu items such as chicken fries. With the January 2017 payment, Restaurant Brands…