The stock of Restaurant Brands International Inc. — the parent company of fast-food entities Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes — rose 0.5% early Tuesday, after the company beat profit estimates for the fourth quarter, overshadowing a same-restaurant sales miss.
The Toronto-based company posted net income of $726 million, or $1.60 a share, in the quarter, up from $335 million, or 74 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Adjusted per-share earnings came to 75 cents, ahead of the 73-cent FactSet consensus.
Revenue rose to $1.820 billion from $1.689 billion, matching the FactSet consensus.
Same-restaurant sales rose 5.8%, as more than 8% growth at Tim Hortons and more than 6% at Burger King U.S. FactSet was expecting a rise of 6.4%.
“During 2022 and 2023, there were increases in commodity, labor, and energy costs which have resulted in inflation, foreign exchange volatility, rising interest rates and general softening in the consumer environment which have been exacerbated by conflicts in the Middle East,” the company said in a statement.
By segment, sales rose 9% at Tim Hortons, were up 4.9% at Burger King, rose 11.2% at Popeyes Louisiana, and were up 7.8% at Firehouse Subs. International sales rose 12.8%.
Starting with the fourth quarter, the company is reorganizing its financial reporting into those five operating segments. It has also changed its definition of segment income to adjusted operating income and away from adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
The new metric includes depreciation and amortization, excluding franchise agreement amortization, as well as share-based compensation and non-cash incentive compensation expenses.
The stock was slightly lower premarket and is up 16% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 22.8%.
