Yum! Brands (YUM)
Consumer Discretionary · $38.4B market cap · SEC CIK 0001041061
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Nov 2, 2026, before the open, with analysts expecting $1.61 in earnings per share.
The case for YUM
- Generated $1.6B of free cash flow in FY2025, 20% of revenue.
- 25% of revenue drops through to net profit.
- Revenue growing 10.3% year over year.
- Earnings per share up 57.2%.
- Earns 27% a year on everything it owns (return on assets).
- Reasonably priced at 17.3× earnings.
The case against
- Near the bottom of its 52-week range, 18% below the high. Falling prices usually have a reason; find it first.
- Owes more than it owns: shareholder equity is -$7.3B, usually the result of buybacks funded with debt. ROE and price-to-book mean little here.
- Current liabilities exceed current assets (ratio 0.59).
- Price/sales of 4.4× is higher than 87% of Consumer Discretionary companies.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Consumer Discretionary companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 57 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 64 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 85 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 29 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 58 |
- Shareholder equity is negative, so return on equity, price-to-book and debt-to-equity are left out.
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 48 Consumer Discretionary companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 17.3× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | n/m (negative equity) |
| Price / sales | 4.4× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +10.3% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +57.2% |
| Gross margin | 45% |
| Operating margin | 31% |
| Net margin | 25% |
| Return on assets | 27.5% (ROE not meaningful: negative equity) |
| Debt / equity | n/m (negative equity) |
| Current ratio | 0.59 |
| Dividend yield | 1.89% |
| Beta | 0.54 |
| 52-week range | $134.26 – $170.14 |
| Position in that range | 15% of the way up |
| 3-month return | -8.3% |
| 1-year return | -4.3% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Yum! Brands's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $8.2B | $7.5B | $7.1B | $6.8B | $6.6B |
| Operating income | $2.6B | $2.4B | $2.3B | $2.2B | $2.1B |
| Net income | $1.6B | $1.5B | $1.6B | $1.3B | $1.6B |
| Operating cash flow | $2.0B | $1.7B | $1.6B | $1.4B | $1.7B |
| Capital expenditure | $371M | $257M | $285M | $279M | $230M |
| Total assets | $8.2B | $6.7B | $6.2B | $5.8B | $6.0B |
| Total liabilities | $15.5B | $14.4B | $14.1B | $14.7B | $14.3B |
| Shareholder equity | -$7.3B | -$7.6B | -$7.9B | -$8.9B | -$8.4B |
| Cash | $709M | $616M | $512M | $367M | $486M |
| Free cash flow | $1.6B | $1.4B | $1.3B | $1.1B | $1.5B |
| Operating margin | 31.3% | 31.8% | 32.8% | 32.0% | 32.5% |
| Net margin | 19.0% | 19.7% | 22.6% | 19.4% | 23.9% |
| Diluted shares | 281M | 285M | 285M | 290M | 302M |
Share count is down 7.0% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
What Yum! Brands says it does
Yum! Brands, Inc. (referred to herein as "YUM", the "Registrant" or the "Company"), was incorporated under the laws of the state of North Carolina in 1997. The principal executive offices of YUM are located at 1441 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, Kentucky 40213, and the telephone number at that location is (502) 874-8300. Our website address is https://www.yum.com . YUM, together with its subsidiaries, is referred to in this Form 10-K annual report ("Form 10-K") as the Company. The terms "we," "us" and "our" are also used in the Form 10-K to refer to the Company. Throughout this Form 10-K, the terms "restaurants," "stores" and "units" are used interchangeably. While YUM does not directly own or operate any restaurants, throughout this document we may refer to restaurants that are owned or operated by our subsidiaries as being Company-owned. Overview of Business YUM has over 63,000 restaurants in 155 countries and territories primarily…
Risk factors YUM lists in its 10-K
- Food safety and food- or beverage-borne illness concerns may have an adverse effect on our business and/or our growth prospects
- Our business may be adversely affected by adverse public health conditions or the occurrence of other catastrophic or unforeseen events
- Our operating results and growth strategies are closely tied to the success of our Concepts
- Our growth strategy depends upon our and our Concepts’ franchisees
- ability to successfully open new restaurants and to operate these restaurants profitably
- We may not realize the anticipated benefits from past or potential future acquisitions, investments or other strategic transactions, or our portfolio business model
- We have significant exposure to the Chinese market through our largest franchisee, Yum China, which subjects us to risks that could negatively affect our business and/or our growth prospects
- Our global operations subject us to risks that could negatively affect our business
- Foreign currency risks and foreign exchange controls could adversely affect our financial results
- The failure to maintain satisfactory compliance with
- egal requirements regarding data privacy, data protection and emerging technologies may adversely affect our business and/or growth prospects and subject us to penalties
- Unreliable or inefficient restaurant technology or the failure to successfully implement technology initiatives could adversely impact our business and the overall consumer experience
- There are risks associated with our increasing dependence on digital commerce and delivery platforms to maintain and grow sales
- Our inability or failure to recognize, respond to and effectively manage the increased impact of social media could adversely impact our business and/or growth prospects