ALSO IN EARNINGS
- Greece Still to Convince Skeptical Euro Zone
- A Secretive Hedge Fund Legend Prepares to Surface
- Greece's Debt Drama Is Downside Risk to $100 Oil
- Greece Needs to Be the Sacrificial Lamb: Pro
- The World's Best Beers
- We 'Screwed Up' on A380 Wing Cracks: Airbus CEO
- Mortgage Problems? Turn Your House Into a Billboard
- Positive Signs for US, Japan Economies: OECD
- Venezuela's Capriles Seeks to Beat Chavez in Vote
MOST SHARED
- S&P’s Moritz Kraemer Is Euro Zone’s ‘Mr. Scissorhands’
- Positive Signs for US, Japan Economies: OECD
- Italy One-Year Debt Costs Fall at Auction
- Global Markets Update: European Stocks Follow Asia Higher at the Open
- US Stocks Seen Higher on Greece Vote
- Obama's Election-Year Budget to Target Rich
- Mortgage Problems? Turn Your House Into a Billboard
- New York Fashion Week Fall 2012
- Option Bulls Bet on Riverbed’s Rising Tide
- European Shares Rise After Greek Vote
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Yum Profit Beats Street, Shares Fall on Outlook
Text Size 
Yum Brands, operator of the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut fast-food chains, posted a quarterly profit on Monday that beat Wall Street's target, but its shares fell 2.3 percent after the company's boosted 2008 earnings per share forecast was short of analyst's target.
 |
Mike Derer / AP |
Investors have been jittery about the growth potential of budget-oriented fast-food purveyors as a downturn in U.S. consumer spending is making it difficult for companies to raise prices to make up for higher food and labor costs.
Net income at Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum was $231 million, or 44 cents per share to beat Wall Street's average call for per share earnings of 42 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
The result compared with Yum's year-earlier quarterly net income of $232 million, or 42 cents per share. Share buybacks reduced dilution in the most recent quarter, raising Yum's earnings per share results.
Yum also said it plans to return more than $2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
Revenue rose 8 percent to $3.26 billion, topping analyst's average call for sales of $3.16 billion.
Worldwide same-store sales grew 4 percent, including 17 percent growth in mainland China, 5 percent in Yum Restaurants International, which excludes China, and 1 percent in the United States.
The company raised its full-year forecast for 2008 earnings per share, excluding one-time gains, to $1.85 per share, or at least 10 percent growth, from $1.82 per share.
The company said in December it was looking for earnings- per-share growth of at least 10 percent in 2008.
Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates were looking for full-year earnings excluding items of $1.86 for the quarter.
The company, which has more than 34,000 restaurants worldwide, has a track record of meeting or beating Wall Street's targets.
The company's shares [YUM
Loading...
()
], which were up 20 percent from a year ago on a split-adjusted basis, fell to $35 from its close of $35.81 in after-hours trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
- With the Michigan primary coming up, Mitt Romney will have to explain to voters why he strongly opposed the auto industry bailout.
- The roles of CEOs are changing, says a top exec at Infosys— and here’s what must be done.
- Along with being the star of TV’s “NCIS,” Pauley Perrette found time to launch a southern bakery in Manhattan.
- What if aging was something that could be prevented? That’s what some biotech start-ups and investors are after.
- There’s a feeling among rockers like Mick Fleetwood and Neil Young that MP3 compression is ruining music.
- A month after the buzz about the baby name Blue Ivy, parents Jay-Z and Beyonce are applying to get the moniker trademarked.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
