Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO)

A little bit of a problem company. An acquirer. Big holdings are Tim Hortons and Burger King. They tend to squeeze as much as they can from the franchisees and try to grow sales. They had many problems with Tim Hortons franchisees and that hurt the stock. People are not so much in love with the stock. Valuation was well overdone, and he would worry at this level.

Recently bought this. Burger King is doing quite well though Timmy's has been flat. Good combo of 3% dividend and growth. (Analysts price target: $90.35)

They are struggling a little bit with Tim Hortons same store sales. They are paying now a 3.1% dividend. The strategies that management is implementing is going to work out. Stock is cheaper than its 5 years average. (Analysts’ price target is $89.92)

The long term outlook is quite solid. They have not handled the minimum wage issue of Tim Hortons. He blames politicians for not seeing this coming. It is a great business with an expanding list of brands. It is not dirt cheap, but if interest rates rise it could face headwinds. Yield 3%. (Analysts’ price target is $90 )

Buy at $74? Many pressures against it, like Tim Horton's minimum wage controversy in Ontario. Horton's had weak same-store sale numbers. Trades at a hefty multiple. There are better opportunities in other names. Cost-cutting can last only so long.

(A Top Pick March 13/17. Up 1%.) Mini pullback in past three months, but still fantastic. ROIC is 20%+. Valuation has improved. Hasn't heard of price war among U.S. fast food chains, but unconcerned.

This has been an incredible story, and is one he wishes he had owned. 3G has done an incredible job of integrating Burger King and Tim Hortons. However, it’s trading at a full multiple and is fairly valued.

Not inexpensive. They are viewed as pretty good operators. She has chosen Yum Brands (YUM-N) instead, because she wants exposure to emerging markets, because of secular growth.

The volume is quite good. There is very little he can add technically. A lot of stocks are very similar.

He likes it, has been one of his top picks in the past and he stills like it. Tim Hortons has always been great on its own, then came Burger King which is pretty strong too. Together there was a little bit of synergies. And then they bought Popeyes Louisiana Chicken which he was pleasantly surprised with the performance. They are still on the hunt for more acquisition and are really good operators. There are speculations that the new McDonald's Value Menu could be a treat and that a price war could be going on. He is not too concerned about the competition. He would recommend McDonald’s (MCD-N) as well.

Probably in an uptrend still. There was a high point in mid-2017, and then recently went little higher. Not the smoothest chart in the world. For one who is patient, you’re probably going to do OK on it. It may pull back a little bit. Might go down the trendline and that might end up in the high $70s, he doesn’t think it’s in danger but it will probably be a choppy ride while you hold it.

Management team is very smart and seem to have endless opportunities to get growth. It’s hard to justify the valuation, so he is watching this with interest. If there is a material pullback, or he gets more comfortable, he may take some on. Trading at about 25X Forward Earnings.

Their Chili is possibly the best anywhere in the free world. When you look at growth here, there are places where you can’t go 40 meters without coming across a Tim Horton’s, so there is very little growth here. It remains to be seen if the US growth will drive them. He prefers IRG-T.

A TSX answer to a Yum Brands or McDonald's. A play on global growth with excellent management. Trading at 33X earnings which is not cheap, but it never does get cheap. He is modelling 24% per share growth. 3 to 5 years out this could be double, and ultimately double again from there. Dividend yield of 1.2%. (Analysts’ Price Target is $74.50.)

He likes it long term and would own more if it was cheaper. They are having to reinvest and it is hurting margins. He does not know short term and it is reasonably fully valued, but he likes the business long term. They are good at doing M&A and taking costs out. They are a royalty model so they care about growth in absolute units.