Consider this ‘activist bargain’ a buy

Article Excerpt

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, prominent activist investors are targeting quality companies they see as bargains, including fast-food operator Restaurant Brands and cloud-computing specialist Box. However, we see just one of them as suitable for your new buying. RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC. $70 is a buy. With your shares, you gain exposure to the world’s third-largest fast-food operator (Toronto symbol QSR; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 463.6 million; Market cap: $32.5 billion; Dividend yield: 4.0%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.rbi.com). That’s after McDonald’s (No. 1) and Yum Brands (No. 2). The company has 27,109 outlets in over 100 countries: 18,848 Burger King, 4,925 Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts), and 3,336 Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen (fried chicken). Activist investor Bill Ackman, through his Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund, recently raised his stake in the company to 9.6% from 6.6%. So far, the activist has not pressed the company to make any changes. Instead, he feels Restaurant Brands, which gets most of its income from royalty payments from franchisees,…