Burger King Parent Restaurant Brands International Q1 Sales, Profit Fall Short

Restaurant Brands International (QSR) on Thursday reported first-quarter results mostly below expectations.

The parent of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.75 on revenue of $2.11 billion. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expected $0.78 and $2.15 billion, respectively.

RBI recorded system-wide sales growth of 2.8% year-over-year and comparable sales growth of 0.1%. Analysts were looking for 1.82% and 1.18%, respectively. RBI said its comparable sales growth would have been over 1% if it excluded 110-basis-point impact of Leap Day from last year’s Q1 results.

RBI Affirms Long-Term Outlook

The fast-food chain affirmed its long-term outlook, projecting at least 3% comparable sales growth and at least 8% organic adjusted operating income growth on average through 2028.

CEO Josh Kobza said the company is “making solid progress executing the fundamentals of our business, despite a slower start to the year.”

Restaurant Brands International shares were up less than 1% shortly after Thursday’s report was released. They entered Thursday up 4% for the year.