A recent 13G filing shows that activist investor Bill Ackman’s beneficial holding in Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) has risen to 41,949,413 shares, constituting an 11.9% stake in the global fast food and hamburger chain. As of September 30, 2013, Ackman held 38,372,120 shares.
Burger King’s earnings beat
Yesterday, Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) reported Q4 EPS of $0.24 that beat estimates by $0.01. Revenue of $265.2M missed estimates by $2.05M and was down 34% year on year. However comparable store sales were up 1.7% during the quarter. New menu items like Satisfries french fries and the Big King burger, styled after McDonald’s Big Mac, helped lift sales.
Global refranchising completed
“We completed our global refranchising initiative, fundamentally transforming our business model and putting restaurant operations into the hands of our experienced franchisees, said CEO Daniel Schwatz. “In North America, our focus on launching fewer, more impactful products helped drive improved sales trends as the year progressed. We grew comparable sales across all three international regions, opened 670 net new restaurants globally, and formed joint ventures in France and India to lay the foundation for continued expansion,” he added.
For the full year, the company reported EPS of $0.84 on revenues of $1.15B, down nearly 42% year on year.
Analysts’ views
Yesterday, UBS analysts boosted their PT on Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) to $30 and reaffirmed their Buy rating. Last month analysts at Goldman Sachs and UBS AG had accorded the stock a Buy rating. However, Credit Suisse had a Neutral rating on it.
Stock performance
The Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) stock has appreciated 59.84% over the past 1 year, and 12.64% over the month. Currently, the stock is trading at $25.31, down 1.71%, though the broad market is up considering the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) and the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) are higher by 0.37% and 0.27% respectively.
At current rates, Bill Ackman’s holding is worth about $1.06B.
