Yum Brands News

The fast food industry is one of my favorite areas of the broader financial markets.

What do KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell all have in common? Other than the fact that I consumed inordinate amounts of each of these during my college years, they're all owned by the restaurant operator Yum Brands Inc.

When he opened his first restaurant in the front room of a Kentucky gas station during the Great Depression, never could the Southern gentleman have imagined that one day, in China, his famous beloved recipe of 11 herbs and spices would be ordered based on the .

Procter & Gamble calls the flare-up at Diamond Foods "very disappointing" as it evaluates new options for the sale of Pringles after originally working out a $2.35 billion cash and debt deal with the embattled firm.

When Long John Silver's separated from YUM! Brands, there was talk the company may move its headquarters out of the state.

Looking back, maybe it's not so hard to see why quick-service restaurants would do well in a tougher economy , but the performance of the top brands has been nothing less than blistering.

Yum! Brands will open at least 150 new Pizza Hut restaurants this year in China as part of an overseas expansion plans, according to a China Daily report.

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM - This week, Taco Bell rolled out its long-awaited breakfast menu at 750 locations in 10 states across the country.

Chipotle Mexican Grill continued on its impressive growth trajectory as it reported strong fourth-quarter financials last week.

YUM Brands , a 38,000 restaurant operator, reported stellar fourth-quarter earnings this week on the heals of exceptional international growth.

YUM! Brands : China has released a plan meant to create 45M jobs by 2015 and keep the country's urban unemployment rate around 5%, according to Xinhua.

Yum! Brands, Inc. : Baird raised its price target on Yum! Brands following Q4 results.

Long John Silver's will open its new headquarters Thursday morning in the wake of the fish chain's recent departure from the Yum! Brands' fast-food portfolio.

"Our philosophy is really pretty simple," CFO Rick Carucci said in a conference call Tuesday.

Yum! Brands was upgraded by Goldman Sachs from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

Yum! Brands : Yum! Brands said it is well-positioned to meet or exceed its annual target of at least 10% EPS growth in 2012.

As part of its efforts to ramp up investment in South Africa and across the continent, Yum! Brands Inc, the parent company of KFC on Wednesday announced the purchase of 68 franchise stores from franchisee Kumnandi Food Company.

Yum! Brands Inc. continues to deliver impressive results overseas. The company recently reported better than expected results for the fourth quarter, driven by exceptional top-line growth in China.

Even as the U.S. continues to run massive trade deficits with China, American soda and fast-food companies are doing their part to even the playing field while relying ever more on that vast market to generate growth.

U.S. stocks rose Tuesday as surprisingly strong earnings from Coca-Cola Co., Anadarko Petroleum Corp., CoinStar and Yum! Brands Inc.