Restaurant Brands Outruns Peers & S&P 500, Surges 50% In YTD

In an intensely competitive Restaurant industry, Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR) has done exceedingly well and emerged as an attractive investment option. This is quite evident from the stock’s performance year to date. In the said period, the stock has surged 50.4% compared with the industry’s and the S&P 500’s growth of 31.8% and 15%, respectively.

We believe there is still momentum left in this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, which is quite evident from its long-term impressive earnings growth rate of 9.3%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Year to date, stocks such as Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) , Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DNKN) and McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) have gained 22%, 30.5% and 24.2%, respectively.

Let’s delve deeper and find out the reason that kept Restaurant Brands ahead of its peers.

Key Catalysts

Restaurant Brands continues to expand its presence in existing markets as well new markets. The company’s expansion efforts drove consolidated systemwide sales by approximately 8%. Currently, it has more than 26,000 restaurants worldwide, which includes more than 18,000 restaurants at Burger King. Restaurant Brands also continues to evaluate opportunities to speed up international development of all the three brands by establishing master franchisees with exclusive development rights as well as joint ventures with new and existing franchisees.

Restaurant Brands has a solid strategy at Burger King that focuses on enhancing restaurant image, technology, operations and marketing. This strategy is likely to drive sustainable comps over the long run. As of now, the company has made significant progress with respect to remodeling and modernizing its restaurants in the United States.

Moreover, the company’s loyalty program, Tim's Rewards, has been doing well. The company said that following a rapid ramp-up phase nearly half of the customers pay through Tim's Rewards. Notably, more than 7 million people are using the loyalty program every month.

Restaurant Brands is also optimistic about the major expansion opportunity in the United States. The regions where the company has signed development agreements include Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Youngstown. It has also entered into the master franchise and development agreements in a number of markets across these regions including Japan, France, Russia, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, China, Turkey and Korea.

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