Yum sees China rebound next year

Article Excerpt

YUM! BRANDS INC. $69 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 437.5 million; Market cap: $30.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) earned $404 million in the three months ended September 6, 2014, up 165.8% from $152 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 169.7%, to $0.89 from $0.33, on fewer shares outstanding. If you disregard unusual items, including last year’s writedown of Yum’s investment in the Little Sheep restaurant chain in China, earnings rose 2.4%, to $0.87 a share from $0.85. Sales declined 3.2%, to $3.35 billion from $3.5 billion. That’s mainly because a food-safety scare has cut traffic at Yum’s KFC outlets in China. As a result, the China division’s same-store sales fell 14%. However, same-store sales rose 3% at the company’s other KFC locations and 3% at Taco Bell. Same-store sales also rose 4% at the India division, while Pizza Hut saw a 1% decline. The company…