Investing.com - Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) fourth quarter earnings missed analysts' expectations and revenue fell short of forecasts, as its $171 million reduction to its investment in Grubhub and a foreign currency loss of $14 million weighed on results, the company said in a press release today.
Operating margin at its Pizza Hut division decreased by 5.7% for the fourth quarter and 2.9% for the year as a result of increased advertising costs.
"During 2018, system sales grew 5% with same store sales growth of 2%, and net unit growth of 4%, excluding the impact of Telepizza. Combined across our brands and led by over 2,000 world-class franchisees, we opened a record 8 gross new restaurants per day across the globe in 2018," Greg Creed, CEO of Yum! Brands said in the press release.
The firm reported earnings per share of $0.4 on revenue of $1.56 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com forecast EPS of $0.95 on revenue of $1.59 billion. That compared to EPS of $0.96 on revenue of $1.58 billion in the same period a year earlier. The company reported EPS of $1.04 on revenue of $1.39 billion in the third quarter.
Yum! Brands follows other major Services sector earnings this month
On January 30, Alibaba reported third quarter EPS of $12.19 on revenue of $117.28 billion, compared to forecasts of EPS of $10.72 on revenue of $79,858 million.
Verizon earnings beat analyst's expectations on January 29, with fourth quarter EPS of $1.12 on revenue of $34.28 billion. Investing.com analysts expected EPS of $1.09 on revenue of $34.44 billion.
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