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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (47765)	4/19/2012 1:26:17 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Respond to of 69758

Yum China disappoints as Chinese growth cools Reuters 4:35 PM, E.T. \| April 18, 2012 KFC parent Yum Brands Inc. ( YUM-N 72.94 -0.25 -0.34%) posted first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's view but shares slipped after sales at established restaurants in its key China market grew 14 percent, slightly less than analysts expected. Expectations were high going into the quarter despite a slight cooling in economic growth in China, which accounts for just over 40 percent of Yum's overall profits. Yum's net income for the first quarter, ended March 24, rose to $458 million US, or 96 cents per share, compared with $264 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, Yum earned 76 cents per share in the latest quarter, topping analysts' average target by 3 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Investors have been jittery about a potential slowdown and hard landing in China -- the world's fastest-growing major economy -- where first-quarter gross domestic product growth slowed to 8.1 percent, the most lackluster increase in nearly three years. Yum's 14 percent first-quarter same-restaurant sales gain in China was a strong number, but fell short of analysts' average call for a rise of 14.6 percent, according to Consensus Metrix. Same-restaurant sales from the United States were up 5 percent, boosted by brisk sales of Taco Bell's new Doritos Locos Tacos. Analysts had expected a rise of 2.2 percent. Results from Yum Restaurants International (YRI), which includes Japan, Russia and France, also gained 5 percent, better than analysts' call for a 2.8 percent rise. KFC parent Yum Brands Inc. ( YUM-N 72.94 -0.25 -0.34%) posted first-quarter earnings that rose from a year earlier as sales at established restaurants in China grew 14 percent, slightly less than analysts expected, amid a slight cooling in economic growth in its top market. Yum's net income for the first quarter, ended March 24, rose to $458 million US, or 96 cents per share, compared with $264 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding special items, Yum earned 76 cents per share in the latest quarter. [Johnny; This is probably the most explicit signal we are going to get about the health of the Chinese economy. KFC used to considered a western treat in China. If the growth of KFC is slowing down it probably means there is less disposable income so people are cutting back.]