Wingstop reported second-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations. The restaurant chain specializing in chicken wings raked in earnings of 39 cents a share, from 17 cents in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast earnings per share of 30 cents. The company’s revenue increased +36% year-over-year to $66.1 million, compared to FactSet analyst consensus of $62.5 million. "We benefited from a steadfast focus on expanding our digital business and leveraging delivery to make it seamless for fans to access … wings, fries and sides," Chief Executive Charlie Morrison said in a statement. Wingstop announced its dividend of 14 cents a share, +27% higher than the 11 cents last quarter.The odds of a continued Uptrend are 80%. Bearish Trend Analysis The RSI Indicator appears to be shifting from an Uptrend to a Downtrend.

This summer, McDonald's   plans to hire around 260,000 people . The fast food restaurant company said that it had implemented about 50 new safety procedures, as it reopens after months of coronavirus-induced lockdown.The safety measures including closing some seating and tables, cleaning more frequently and keeping play spaces closed.  “Our local business owners are proud to help their communities and provide employment and educational opportunities to hundreds of thousands of people this summer," said Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald's USA. The company operates its restaurants at about 14,000 locations in the U.S. MCD enters a Downtrend because Momentum Indicator dropped below the 0 level on June 17, 2020 This indicator signals that MCD's price has further to drop, since it moved below its price 14 days ago.

In 23 of 34 cases where SHAK's RSI Indicator exited the overbought zone, the price fell further within the following month.The odds of a continued Downtrend are 68%. Current price $54.36 crossed the support line at $55.14 and is trading between $55.14 support and $51.71 resistance lines. Throughout the month of 05/13/20 - 06/15/20, the price experienced a +17% Uptrend, while the week of 06/08/20 - 06/15/20 shows a -12% Downtrend. Technical Analysis (Indicators) Bearish Trend Analysis The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) crossed below the signal line.

Starbucks  received a credit rating downgrade from Fitch Ratings to BBB (the second lowest investment-grade rating) from BBB+.Fitch also mentioned a negative outlook on the coffee chain, which implies a potential further downgrade. The downgrade followed Starbucks’ proposal for $3 billion of unsecured notes, which creates a “higher leverage profile” for Starbucks according to Fitch. Fitch also mentioned that Starbucks’ fiscal second quarter earnings came in worse than expected amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Shake Shack said it would return a small business loan it received from the U.S. government as part of covid-19 relief package. The fast casual restaurant chain was able to get extra funding late last week through an equity transaction,  and decided to immediately return the $10 million paycheck protection loan it received through the CARES Act, (the Associated Press reported). CEO Randy Garutti and founder Danny Meyer said, “Shake Shack was fortunate last Friday to be able to access the additional capital we needed to ensure our long term stability through an equity transaction in the public markets”.They added, “We’re thankful for that and we’ve decided to immediately return the entire $10 million PPP loan we received last week so that those restaurants who need it most can get it now”.

In January, the coffee chain had  closed more than half its China stores due to risks posed by the coronavirus outbreak. Starbucks on Wednesday also announced that it is opening a “state-of-the-art coffee innovation park in China in 2022.The facility will include a roasting plant, warehouse and distribution center; and it is expected to create highly skilled jobs and new career opportunities that will help boost sustainable coffee manufacturing, as indicated by Chief Executive Kevin Johnson . The company is hoping to have 6,000 stores in China by 2022, which is 40% more than the current 4,290 figure.

Brands is acquiring charbroiled hamburgers-famed Habit Restaurants, for around $375 million. Yum, parent of casual dining restaurant chains  KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, said on Monday that it was buying Habit for $14 a share in cash. The acquisition could potentially bolster/expand Yum’s menu offerings by adding Habit's specialties like flame-grilled burgers, chargrilled chicken, tuna and other sandwiches. “As a fast-casual concept with strong unit economics, The Habit Burger Grill is a fantastic addition to the Yum!Brands indicated that it is expecting minimal impact to non-GAAP earnings per share before special items in 2020, with accretion starting in 2021 and increasing after that.  

On Thursday, Wingstop  announced that its chief operating officer will step down in March. The restaurant chain specializing in chicken wings informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that Laurence Kruguer would resign effective March 7.The departure is not due to any disagreement, the company indicated  in its filing. In early December, Goldman Sachs added the stock to its conviction-buy list, and boosted its estimate for same-store sales to 12.5%, up from prior forecast of 10%.

The analyst cited competition from delivery services GrubHub and UberEats  and the company's decision to place a greater emphasis on off-premise orders(as report by Bloomberg ).Yum’s other brand KFC has  strong competition from Chick-fil-A and Popeyes. Analysts at Argus also lowered their 2019 earnings estimates for Yum to $3.75, compared to price forecast of  $3.80.

On Wednesday, Wendy's reported higher-than-expected third-quarter earnings, on the back of strong same-store sales growth. The fast-food restaurant chain’s adjusted earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortization came in at $109.9 million, or 19 cents a share on an adjusted basis.The systemwide same-store sales grew +5.5%. For the full year, Wendy's  now expects adjusted earnings growth in the range between negative -1.5% and positive 1.5% (from its prior guidance of between a drop of -3.5% and -6.5%). The company projects full-year total sales of between $12 billion and $12.5 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $425 million to $435 million.    

McDonald's shares got downgraded Piper Jaffray, following the firing of CEO Steve Easterbrook. Easterbrook has to leave the company because his consensual relationship with an employee violated company policy.“Our experience leads us to take a more cautionary view noting the potential lack of momentum and time involved in formalizing a new team,” Piper Jaffray wrote. However, Piper Jaffray also mentioned that their change in rating does not reflect McDonald's overall ability to “dominate in terms of global market scale, the effectiveness of its leadership team, or the effort behind its franchise network”.

On Wednesday, Yum Brands posted quarterly earnings that missed analysts’ expectations. The company, which owns several restaurant-chains such as Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, reported third quarter adjusted earnings of 80 cents a share, compared to analysts’ estimate of 94 cents. Net revenue of $1.34 billion in the quarter was almost in line with the $1.344 billion expected by analysts.Last year, Yum bought a 3% stake in the third-party delivery app. Yum’s Pizza Hut reported flat same-store sales growth, falling short of Wall Street’s estimates of +1.5%.

This coming Tuesday we will get earnings results from four companies that are members of the Dow 30—McDonalds (NYSE: MCD), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV), and United Technologies (NYSE: UTX). Rather than breaking down each stock one by one, I thought tables would make it easier to compare how the companies are expected to do for this quarter and how they each stack up with their Tickeron Fundamental Ratings.I took the liberty of highlighting particular stats that are positive (green highlight) and ones that are a concern.

You might not be familiar with the name Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR), but you probably know the names of the restaurants it operates.Restaurant Brands operates over 4,800 Tim Hortons, 17,800 Burger Kings, and 3,100 Popeyes in approximately 100 countries around the world. The company got my attention for a couple of reasons recently and both of them point to a possible rally in the stock.

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill jumped +1.2% Monday, following a rating upgrade from Wedbush. Analyst Nick Setyan upgraded his rating of the fast food restaurant chain' shares to outperform from neutral.This was the program’s first full quarter since it began. Setyan mentioned that loyalty would be  a strong, key driver of penetration of Chipotle’s own app among consumers.

Kentucky Fried Chicken in Atlanta could soon be serving Beyond Meat's plant-based fried chicken. YUM!Beyond Fried Chicken will be available in nuggets at prices between $1.99 and $8.49 and boneless wings for between $6 and $12 (depending on the number of pieces), at the Cobb Parkway KFC in Atlanta in the test.  In May, Kevin Hochman, who heads KFC’s U.S. division, had said that the restaurant-chain did not have plans to test vegan options, but that he had meetings scheduled with some major suppliers to learn more about meatless meats. Amidst the soaring popularity of its plant-based meat products,  Beyond Meat has registered a +123% gain in its stock price since the shares’ IPO in May.

Initially the stock moved higher after the report, but it pulled back with the rest of the market over the past week. Over the last three years, the company has been averaging earnings growth of 15% per year and the second quarter results were up 3% from the previous year.The sales results are being impacted by the company’s plans to shift locations from corporate ownership to more franchise status. Looking at the company’s management efficiency measurements we see a profit margin of 28.3% and an operating margin of 41.8%.

McDonald's Corp. reported second quarter earnings that were in line with analysts’ expectations, while the fast food chain’s comparable store sales surpassed expectations.  The company’s adjusted earnings for the three months ending in June came in at $2.05 per share, up 6 cents from the same period last year and largely matching the Street consensus estimates. Total revenues declined -0.4% year-over-year to $5.34 billion, but exceeded analysts' estimates of $5.32 billion. Yea-over-year growth in global same-store sales came in at 6.5% in the quarter.Comparable U.S. sales grew +5.7%, a faster rate than the Street estimate of +4.5%.  CEO Steve Easterbrook emphasized that the restaurant chain has now experienced 16 consecutive quarters of positive global comparable sales.

Darden Restaurants missed fiscal fourth-quarter revenue estimates, sending its share down -4% Thursday morning, The restaurant company’s quarterly revenue increased +4.5% year-over-year to $2.23 billion, but lagged  analysts’ estimates of $2.24 billion (based on Refinitiv poll of analysts). Total same-store sales growth across all of Darden’s restaurants came in at +1.6% for the quarter, falling short of analysts’ estimates of +2.3%.Darden mentioned a decline of -0.4% in  foot traffic to its Olive Garden locations open at least a year.It reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.76, compared to Wall Street’s estimates of $1.73. Looking ahead, the company expects same-store sales growth of 1% to 2%, and net earnings per share of $6.30 to $6.45.

Chipotle Mexican Grill feels that tariffs on Mexican imports could raise costs and squeeze margins. The chain of fast casual restaurants told CNBC that if U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on goods imported from Mexico gets implemented, the company’s costs could increase by $15 million in 2019, while its margins could get slashed by 20 to 30 basis points. CFO Jack Hartung mentioned in a statement that Chipotle might consider covering the higher costs through a “modest” price hike on their items, among other potential solutions - should the tariffs become permanent. Hartung emphasized that the company is committed to its “integrity principles”.  He indicated that while premashed or processed avocados would probably be cheaper, the company would continue to use fresh ingredients as it is unwilling to short-change customers on quality and taste. The tariffs on Mexican imports could gradually increase and could potentially get to as high as 25% this yea