Taco Bell's Yum Brands Shares Down 2% After Earnings Miss

Shares of Yum Brands Inc. fell more than 2% late Wednesday after the parent company of fast-food chains Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and others missed Wall Street's third-quarter adjusted earnings and sales expectations. Yum said it earned $622 million, or $1.56 a share, in the quarter, compared with $421 million, or 95 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted for one-time items, Yum said it earned $1.09 a share, compared with $1 a share a year ago. Sales reached $3.32 billion in the quarter, down from $3.43 billion a year ago, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report adjusted earnings of $1.10 a share on sales of $3.49 billion. The company raised its full-year 2016 core operating profit growth to a least 15% from at least 14%, and said its overall same-store sales rose 1%. Yum is on track to complete the formal spin off its China business, it said in a statement, noting that its sales in China had been hampered by regional protests and "negative sentiment" against multi-national companies linked to western brands stemming from territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. Shares of Yum had ended the regular session down 1.8%.