Yum! Brands edges past Wall Street expectations for the first quarter 2019.
The owner of several fast food chains reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of 82 cents a share, which surpassed analysts' expectations of 81 cents.
On an unadjusted basis, Yum’s first-quarter net income dropped -39% to $262 million (or 83 cents per share), from $433 million, (or $1.27 per share) of the year-ago quarter. Yum’s investment in 3% of Grubhub subtracted 5 cents per share off its earnings during the quarter.
Total revenue of $1.25 billion was in line with Wall Street's estimate. However, the figure was lower from the year-ago quarter’s $1.37 billion. Worldwide same-store sales for the quarter increased +4% year-over-year (compared to analysts’ expectation of +2.7%). Among the restaurants owned by the company, Pizza Hut’s same-store sales broke even (compared to analysts’ expected +0.4%), Taco Bell’s grew +4% (compared to analysts’ expected +4.6%) and KFC’s increased +5% (compared to analysts’ expected +3%).
CEO Greg Creed credited the quarter’s strengths largely to the KFC division and Taco Bell U.S. According to Creed's call with analysts, the international division’s same-store sales growth lagged behind that of its domestic market.
According to Yum, it bought back 1.1 million shares worth $106 million at an average price of $94 a share during the quarter.