Restaurant Brands beats 4Q profit forecasts

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Restaurant Brands International reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations, as a key sales figure rose at Burger King and Tim Hortons.

Sales at established Burger King locations globally rose 3.9 per cent in the period, the company reported Tuesday, while the figure rose 6.3 per cent at established Tim Hortons locations.

For the U.S. and Canada, RBC Capital Markets analyst David Palmer said the sales growth of 2.8 per cent at established location was below the 5.7 per cent growth for McDonald’s and 4.8 per cent growth for Wendy’s in the period. But he said he was “intrigued” by Burger King’s recent announcement that it would add hot dogs to its U.S. menu.

The company said it earned $119.2 million, or 25 cents per share. Excluding one-time items, it earned 35 cents per share. That was more than the 31 cents per share analysts expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.

The Oakville, Ontario-based company said total revenue of $1.06 billion.

Restaurant Brands shares have dropped 2.5 per cent since the beginning of the year. The stock has dropped 6 per cent in the last 12 months.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on QSR at http://www.zacks.com/ap/QSR

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Keywords: Restaurant Brands, Earnings Report