Yum! Brands Rises 3% After Q4 Results

is up more than three percent in after hours trading after the company announced its fourth quarter results. The fast food conglomerate reported a Q4 EPS of $0.86 versus the Street estimate of $0.80. Earnings per share were up four percent from the year-ago period. Revenue came in at $4.18 billion versus the Street estimate of $4.26 billion. Sales were up one percent year-over-year. Yum! Brands' full-year EPS declined nine percent to $2.97 (compared to $3.25 in 2012). The firm admitted that KFC China's sales and profits were "significantly impacted" by the December 2012 "poultry supply incident." Sales and profits were also hurt by concern over the avian flu, which could

in China. Despite these issues, Yum! opened 1,952 new restaurants in 2013. More than 80 percent of those restaurants were in emerging markets. Unfortunately, worldwide margins declined 1.6 percentage points to 15 percent. This included a 2.7 percentage point decline in China. Worldwide operating profits also declined by 10 percent. Once again, China proved to be a nasty culprit, with its operating profit declining 26 percent (prior to foreign currency translation). On the upside, Yum!

that it is confident that it has the "people and resources to deliver at least 20% EPS growth in 2014 and re-establish our track record of double-digit EPS growth." Investors will keep a close eye on this fast food stalwart to see if it can deliver on that promise. Disclosure: