Analyst Upgrades Restaurant Brands On Burger King Brand's Strong Comeback

TD Cowen analyst upgraded the shares of Restaurant Brands International Inc QSR from Market Perform to Outperform and raised the price target from $72 to $75.
The analyst is bullish about Burger King's (BK) U.S. same-store sales upside under a new chairman & new CEO as a capable brand president is granted autonomy to turn around the brand.
The new CEO Josh Kobza is enacting a cultural change to allow greater autonomy for brand presidents that analyst expects to benefit BK U.S.
Restaurant Brands seeks to turn around Burger King U.S. sales & improve franchisee profitability, noted the analyst. Therefore, the analyst raised BK U.S. 1Q23 & 2023 same store sales to 8% & 4.5% from 4.5% & 3.3%, and versus 4.9% & 3.3% Consensus Metrix, respectively.
The analyst thinks improvement in BK's U.S. performance would allow the stock to get more credit for stronger performing segments, including Tim's Canada and BK International.
The analyst infused confidence saying the worst is behind BK U.S. as the brand navigates the early stages of a turnaround after underperformance from 2018-2022.
The analyst added that the shares present a favorable risk/reward set-up given greater than 1:1 upside to downside ratio.
The shares present a favorable risk/reward set-up given greater than 1:1 upside to downside ratio.
Price Action: QSR shares are trading higher by 2.56% at $66.89 on the last check Friday.