RBI brings Popeyes to China

Article Excerpt

RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $92 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (Toronto symbol QSR, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 452.0 million; Market cap: $41.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.5; Dividend yield: 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.rbi.com) has 30,125 fast-food outlets in over 100 countries: 18,935 Burger King, 5,662 Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts), 4,269 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (fried chicken) and 1,259 Firehouse Subs. Earlier this year, TH International Limited (Nasdaq symbol THCH), called “Tims China”, became the exclusive operator and developer of the Popeyes brand in mainland China. As a result, Tims China recently opened its flagship restaurant in Shanghai. Popeyes reports that the location set an opening day record with 1,761 orders. It plans to open at least 10 Popeyes restaurants in Shanghai this year and 1,700 across China over the next 10 years. For Restaurant Brands, using local franchisees makes its easier to adjust menu items to appeal to Chinese tastes. That cuts the risk of entering new markets. Restaurant Brands is…