KFC parent Yum Brands Q2 beats expectations

Heidi Chung
·Reporter
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KFC parent Yum Brands (YUM) beat on both the top and bottom lines and posted better-than-expected sales across all brands. The stock soared more than 5% in early trade Thursday.

Here are the numbers for Yum’s second quarter, compared to Bloomberg compiled estimates:

  • Revenue: $1.31 billion vs. $1.28 billion expected

  • Adj. earnings per share: 93 cents vs. 87 cents expected

  • Global same-stores sales: +5% vs. +3.1% expected

  • KFC same-store sales: +6% vs. +4% expected

  • Taco Bell same-store sales: +7% vs. +3.8% expected

  • Pizza Hut same-store sales: +2% vs. +1% expected

“Second-quarter results maintained early year momentum and helped up to exceed our already high expectations for a strong first half of 2019,” CEO Greg Creed said in a statement. “I’m especially pleased to report that we delivered 10% system sales growth in the quarter, supported by broad based strength at KFC International and Taco Bell.”

Yum’s largest brand, KFC, opened 331 new stores during the second quarter in 54 countries, and margins rose 8.6%.

CITY CENTER, KOLKATA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA - 2019/06/26: KFC Bucket Chicken at an outlet in City Center shopping mall. KFC, also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken is an American Fast Food Company that provides delicious Chicken Items all over the world in different outlets. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A bucket of KFC chicken. (Photo by Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Taco Bell continued its strength among the brands, with same-store sales growing 7% during the second quarter, up from the 2% growth in the same period last year. Yum added 55 new Taco Bells stores in 12 countries during the quarter.

Recently, Pizza Hut was the weakest-performing brand among the three brands at Yum, but the pizza chain returned to growth this quarter after flat same-store sales growth in the first quarter. 221 new Pizza Hut locations were opened, and margins increased by 4.1% during Q2.

Yum Brands stock has been performing well so far in 2019 and has outperformed the broader market. Shares jumped 23% as of Wednesday’s close, while the S&P 500 rose 20% in the same time period.

The conference call with management kicks off at 8:15 a.m. ET.

This post is developing. Please check back for updates.

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Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.

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