Yum exits Russia

Article Excerpt

YUM! BRANDS INC. $112 is a buy. The company (New York symbol YUM; Consumer Sector; Shares outstanding: 284.5 million; Market cap: $31.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.8; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.yum.com) operates 53,350 restaurants in over 150 countries. Its main banners are KFC (fried chicken), Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Mexican food). Franchisees now operate 98% of its outlets. The company has agreed to sell its 1,112 KFC outlets in Russia to a local firm that operates those franchises. None of the locations will continue to use the KFC brand. Yum has not yet said how much it will receive for those stores. However, the Russian outlets accounted for just 2% of Yum’s sales and 3% of its profits, so the sale will have little impact on its long-term prospects. Yum Brands is buy. buy…