Yum ups forecast ahead of China spinoff

Article Excerpt

YUM! BRANDS INC. $88 (New York symbol YUM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 399.0 million; Market cap: $35.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.yum.com) is the world’s second-largest fast-food company by revenue, after McDonald’s. Yum still plans to set up its Chinese business as a separate company and hand out shares to its investors. They won’t have to pay capital gains tax until they sell those shares. The new company, called Yum China Holdings Inc., will operate 7,250 fast-food outlets under the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell banners. Its shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The remaining firm will consist of 35,600 restaurants outside China. Yum aims to complete the transaction by October 31, 2016. Meantime, in the quarter ended June 11, 2016, Yum’s overall sales fell 3.1%, to $3.0 billion from $3.1 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales in China were flat, reflecting an 11% drop at…