Updating YUM! BRANDS INC., THE JONES GROUP INC. and VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC.

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YUM! BRANDS INC. $48 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 468.6 million; Market cap: $22.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.yum.com) plans to sell its A&W (hamburgers) and Long John Silver’s (seafood) restaurant chains. Together, these businesses account for about 1% of Yum’s sales. Selling these operations would let Yum focus on its three remaining chains: KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). These brands are easier to expand internationally than A&W and Long John Silver’s, which mainly operate in the U.S. The company feels its international operations will supply 75% of its earnings in 2015, up from 65% in 2010. Yum Brands is a buy. THE JONES GROUP INC. $13 (New York symbol JNY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 87.2 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.jonesgroupinc.com) designs clothing, accessories and footwear for men and women. The company expects that…