Hasta La Vista, Baby...To Restaurant Brands' Earnings Expectations?

I'll Be Back...With Better Numbers?

Restaurant Brands International the machines behind your favorite greasy sustenance reported a glitch in the matrix. Their first quarter earnings and revenue? Negative. They missed the mark like a hunter trying to bag Sarah Connor with a Nerf gun. Popeyes Burger King and Tim Hortons all saw same store sales take a dive. But fear not humans! CEO Josh Kobza assures us 'As we come into [the second quarter] that momentum has improved meaningfully.' Consider this a 'Come with me if you want to live' moment for their stock price.

Earnings Skynet...Not Quite Online

Let's break it down. Earnings per share clocked in at 75 cents a T 800 unit short of the expected 78 cents. Revenue? $2.11 billion instead of the projected $2.13 billion. Net income attributable to shareholders shrunk from $230 million to $159 million. That's like having your CPU downgraded from a neural net processor to an abacus. However net sales did climb 21% thanks to Popeyes and Firehouse Subs. Seems like someone's still got an appetite for fire resistant sandwiches.

Same Store Sales: Terminated (Temporarily)

Overall same store sales growth was a measly 0.1%. Remove that pesky Leap Day and it crawls up to 1%. But the big three – Tim Hortons Burger King and Popeyes – all experienced sales declines. Other fast food chains are singing the same sad song blaming the weather and cautious consumers. Consumers acting cautious now that is something I can not compute.

Tim Hortons and the Ryan Reynolds Gambit

Tim Hortons the coffee slinging titan responsible for over 40% of RBI's revenue saw a 0.1% dip in same store sales. This is in stark contrast to the 6.9% growth a year earlier. However Kobza claims Tim Hortons has 'picked up a lot of speed' in Q2. Their secret weapon? A breakfast meal collab with that Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds. Smart move. Next thing you know they'll be selling motor oil flavored donuts.

Burger King: Still in Turnaround Mode

Burger King's sales shrank 1.3% worse than the estimated 0.9% decline. The U.S. business perpetually in 'turnaround mode,' saw a 1.1% drop. Looks like the King needs more than just a crown to reclaim its throne. They need a hyperalloy combat chassis microprocessors and fully automatic weapons. And maybe a new marketing strategy.

Popeyes: Fried Chicken Apocalypse?

Popeyes got hit the hardest with a 4% same store sales slide. Wall Street expected only a 1.8% drop. Last year's Super Bowl commercial boosted sales but this year they sat out the big game. A tactical error. They should've sent a Terminator. International sales however were stronger. 'I need your clothes your boots and your fried chicken recipe' – seems to be the mantra overseas. RBI reiterated its 2025 forecast planning to spend $400 $450 million on capital expenditures. They also expect 3% same store sales growth and 8% organic adjusted operating income growth between 2024 and 2028. Failure is not an option. Unless of course you're a T 1000. Then you can just morph into something else.