Burger King Serves Up a Whopper of a Quarter As $QSR Beats the Street (McDonald's Ain't Lovin' It)

"You dropped this, king 👑"  

Burger King spent the better part of a decade as fast food's designated punching bag, the chain everyone drove past on the way to Chick-fil-A. Fast forward to today and it just posted the best growth number in the burger business. U.S. same-store sales jumped 8.5% last quarter… which is pretty girthy during an economy where diners are counting quarters in the cupholder. 

Additionally, the parent company ate well too. Restaurant Brands International beat the Street with adjusted earnings of $1.07 per share against the $1.03 Wall Street expected, on revenue of $2.52 billion, up 4.5%. Net income nearly tripled to $507 million. Obviously, CEO Josh Kobza credited "investing in the fundamentals," which is the same thing every CEO says... the difference being it's usually bullsh*t, and this time the numbers cosign it.

For instance, Burger King remodeled its restaurants, sharpened the marketing, upgraded the Whopper, and rolled out a Whopper Guarantee that remakes your burger for free if it comes out looking as disgusted as the McDonalds CEO eating one of his own. Toss in a Star Wars meal promo and the flame-broiler is printing... international Burger King comps grew another 5.4% on top of the U.S. run.

Meanwhile, Ronald and the Gang saw U.S. same-store sales grow 0.8% in its own second quarter. Executives called the performance disappointing and tapped a new U.S. president to stop the bleeding "accelerate its sales." Woof.

That said, not everyone under the RBI roof understood this quarters assignment. Tim Hortons came in essentially flat, with Kobza admitting the marketing "did not perform as anticipated" (read: Canada looked at the ads, shrugged, and ordered the same double-double it's ordered since 2004). As for Popeyes, the chain got its cheeks clapped for a 5.2% U.S. sales decline. The chicken game has turned into a bar fight... too many chains swinging value deals at a shrinking pool of broke diners... and Popeyes keeps getting thrown through the table. Kobza says growth comes back in the second half of the year. Spoiler: He was saying that in the spring, too.

Regardless, the annoying part is if you’re the competition. Burger King isn't even done cooking. A chunk of its U.S. restaurants still haven't been remodeled, and more menu upgrades are coming behind the Whopper refresh. McDonald's still has the market cap. Popeyes still has the prayers. But for one quarter at least, the crown is sitting exactly where the sign out front always claimed it was. Love to see it. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in McDonalds as mentioned in the article.