Yum Brands Just Previewed What Its Books Look Like Without Pizza Hut

Yum Brands beat Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, but the more interesting move was buried in the release. The company carved out a new set of numbers that show what it looks like without Pizza Hut.

Net income hit $432 million for the quarter, up from $253 million a year earlier and worth $1.55 per share on a reported basis. Adjusted earnings per share - a measure of profit per share of stock that strips out one-time items like the Pizza Hut review - came in at $1.50, leaving the $1.38 estimate behind.

Taco Bell Did The Heavy Lifting

Same-store sales at Taco Bell rose 8% in the first quarter, well past Wall Street's 5.6% estimate. CEO Chris Turner called the result "outstanding" and said it was "meaningfully ahead" of the broader fast-food industry.

Net sales across Yum rose 15% to $2.06 billion, with most of the boost coming from company-owned restaurants after Yum bought more than 100 Taco Bell locations across the Southeast last year. The deal was meant to speed up new store openings and squeeze more profit out of the locations Yum already owned.

That acquisition is showing up in the numbers, and Taco Bell now looks less like one of three brands and more like the brand carrying the other two. Wall Street's $1.38 EPS estimate had already factored in a strong Taco Bell quarter, and the chain still topped it by a clear margin.

KFC And Pizza Hut Are The Drag

KFC same-store sales rose 2%, just under the 2.5% Wall Street wanted, while the chain's US business shrank 2% on system sales as customers picked cheaper rivals.

KFC's plan is to borrow Taco Bell's playbook, leaning harder into deals and new menu items to win back value-focused diners. Yum has flagged KFC's international business as one of its growth engines, but the US side has struggled for years against tougher rivals and customers expecting more for their money.

Pizza Hut had it worse, with same-store sales flat globally and down 4% in the US even as analysts had expected only a 0.7% global drop. International sales rose 2%, but the brand has been the clear laggard of the portfolio for years.

The Pizza Hut Tell

Yum announced last November it was exploring strategic options for Pizza Hut, and Reuters reported earlier this month that Apollo Global Management and Sycamore Partners are among the private equity firms in talks to buy the chain.

Yum did not update investors on the sale process Wednesday. The earnings release did something it had not done before, breaking out system sales, unit count, and core operating profit with Pizza Hut stripped out.

The new disclosure is the cleanest signal Yum has given investors about how it sees its portfolio, and it lands right as PE buyers are circling. That's a company showing investors the math for life after Pizza Hut.

What To Watch

Whether Yum confirms a buyer for Pizza Hut and what price the chain fetches. Whether KFC's Taco Bell-style reset shows up in next quarter's numbers.

The reported $1.55 EPS easily covers the $1.38 estimate, but the bigger story is what Yum just told investors about its portfolio. Right now, one brand is carrying three.