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☆ 2 portfolio managers at a $24 billion firm share 8 stocks that are pursuing innovation even in a slowing economy — and explain why investors should focus on boring businesses for success during a rece
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

David Souccar and Daniel Kranson, portfolio managers focused on global equities at Vontobel Quality Growth — which manages $24 billion in assets — are following the same philosophy. But they believe that investors can still find innovative and growth-oriented companies when they go looking for high-quality stocks. That may seem counterintuitive, since growth stocks have recently struggled against their value peers as investors have reemphasized fundamentals. Boring stocks can be the most innovativeSometimes, quality growth stocks like the ones Souccar and Kranson invest in can be more boring than companies with high speculation and flashy CEOs. So as life goes back to normal, there is going to be an acceleration of earnings growth," Souccar said.

☆ Coffee trumps economic crisis as Tim Hortons opens in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAHORE, Pakistan Feb 14 (Reuters) - Pakistanis are queuing for hours to grab coffee and pastries from Canadian chain Tim Hortons, which opened its first outlet in the South Asian country this week just as its economic crisis took a turn for the worse. Tim Hortons is owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc (RBI) (QSR.TO), , a Toronto-based company that also owns other fast food brands including Burger King and Popeyes. McDonald's (MCD.N), Retail Food Group (RFG.AX)-owned Gloria Jean's Coffee and Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N)-owned Pizza Hut are among the international brands with outlets in Pakistan. Tim Hortons is set to open another two outlets in Lahore, RBI said in a statement. For students such as Pareeshay Khan, the brand's social media traction trumps the cost of the coffee.

☆ Restaurant Brands International posts strong fourth quarter, names new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In this photo illustration, a Burger King Whopper hamburger is displayed on April 05, 2022 in San Anselmo, California. Restaurant Brands International on Tuesday posted a strong fourth quarter and named Chief Operating Officer Joshua Kobza as its new chief executive, effective March 1, replacing José Cil. Restaurant Brands reported overall same-store sales growth of 8% during the fourth quarter and system-wide sales growth of nearly 12%. Its flagship burger chain, Burger King, saw same-store sales growth of 8.4% during the period. At the end of the fourth quarter, the company said it had funded $30 million of that turnaround plan.

☆ Gen Z's top 10 brands are out — and they reveal an obsession with self care
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The top 10 consumer brands among Gen Z include healthy food options and self-care items. Numerator compiled a list of the top 10 brands favored by Gen Z consumers, or those born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s. "Gen Z consumers are all about self-care, which is reflected in the brands they choose to buy," said Molly Ryan, a Numerator analyst. The brands on the list had twice the penetration among Gen Z consumers as they did among all US households and grew sales at least 30% between 2021 and 2022. Check out the 10 brands that most interest Gen Z:

☆ Investors need to embrace these stocks that we love
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

I’ve typically done this stock picking feature in early to mid February as a Stocks We Love type of story, pegging it to Valentine’s Day. The restaurant stocks in particular could do well. Inflation is obviously still a concern for big consumer brands. Consumer prices rose 6.5% over the past 12 months through December, down from a 7.1% pace in November. Up nextMonday: Earnings from TreeHouse Foods (THS), Avis Budget (CAR), FirstEnergy (FE), IAC (IAC) and PalantirTuesday: US CPI; Japan GDP; UK employment report; earnings from Coca-Cola, Asahi Group, Marriott (MAR).

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the stock market Thursday: Disney delivers, market rally back, another activist in Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The outlook for Club holding Wynn Resorts (WYNN) hasn't been this good since the Covid pandemic started. I've been saying more needs to be done to right the ship at this Club holding. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Fast food reigns supreme as inflation weighs on pricier restaurants
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Fast-food chains are looking like the big winners in the fourth quarter — and beyond — as fast-casual and casual-dining restaurants struggle to attract customers. Many publicly traded restaurant companies haven't reported their latest quarterly results yet, but for those that have, a pattern is emerging. The fast-food giant said U.S. same-store sales climbed 10.3%, helped in part by low-income consumers returning more frequently than they had for the prior two quarters. Taco Bell's domestic same-store sales climbed 11%, boosted by increased breakfast orders, the return of Mexican Pizza and its value meals. Pizza Hut's U.S. same-store sales grew 4%, while KFC's ticked up 1% as it faced tough year-ago comparisons.

☆ Chick-fil-A just unveiled a fried cauliflower sandwich that took 4 years to develop — and it's nothing like the plant-based fast food at rivals like McDonald's
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Plant-based meat sales growth has flattened over the last several months. But, Chick-fil-A is debuting a cauliflower sandwich in three US markets next week. Next week, the Atlanta-based fried chicken chain plans to introduce its first plant-based meal, the Chick-fil-A Cauliflower Sandwich. Chick-fil-A's vegetable sandwich test also comes as demand for plant-based meats has slowed, prompting layoffs at Impossible Foods. "We explored every corner of the plant-based space in search of the perfect centerpiece for our plant-forward entrée," Stuart Tracy, culinary developer of the cauliflower sandwich, said in a statement.

☆ Canada's Crawford wins super-G gold by slimmest of margins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

COURCHEVEL, France, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Canada's James Crawford won the men's super-G by the slimmest of margins in a stunning upset at the Alpine skiing world championships on Thursday. Switzerland's World Cup overall leader Marco Odermatt was fourth and surprisingly out of the medals on a course set by the Swiss coach. The 25-year-old is the first Canadian super-G world champion since Erik Guay in St Moritz in 2017. Austria's 2021 super-G champion Vincent Kriechmayr finished 12th. Italy's Dominik Paris, the 2019 super-G world champion, crashed heavily at speed after pushing too aggressively and catching a ski edge on a gate.

☆ Taco Bell powers Yum Brands quarterly results beat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A woman eats Taco Bell inside the first digital-only U.S. cantina location at Times Square in New York City, U.S., April 14, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon StapletonFeb 8 (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) beat Street estimates for quarterly sales and profit on Wednesday, as more cash-strapped consumers flocked to its Taco Bell restaurant chain for pocket-friendly meals and snacks amid still high inflation. Total same-store sales at Yum rose 6% in the fourth quarter, while analysts were expecting a 4.57% increase, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Excluding one-time items, Yum Brands earned $1.31 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, beating estimates of $1.26. McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) last week also topped quarterly profit and sales estimates, boosted by higher menu prices and increased customer visits at the burger giant's outlets.

☆ Canada's Hut 8 Mining to merge with US Bitcoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

FILE PHOTO: Bitcoin are seen in this illustration picture taken September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo(Reuters) - Canada’s Hut 8 Mining Corp. plans to merge with rival U.S. Bitcoin in an all-stock deal to create a mining giant in North America, the companies said on Tuesday.

☆ Canada's Hut 8 Mining to merge with US Bitcoin to weather crypto downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Canada's Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) will merge with rival US Bitcoin Corp to create a crypto mining giant in North America, consolidating after a steep fall in valuations for the crypto sector that saw high-profile collapses in recent months. The companies said the combined entity will have a market capitalization of around $990 million, and be equally owned by shareholders of both the companies. The merged entity, to be called Hut 8 Corp, will be listed on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq after the all-stock deal. In December, Binance.US said it will acquire assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital in a deal valued at roughly $1 billion. read moreReporting by Mehnaz Yasmin and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami and Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Earnings playbook: Your best moves ahead of Chipotle, Disney and the second half of reporting season
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Roughly 50% of S & P 500 companies have posted earnings thus far, and the results have been mixed. Tuesday Chipotle Mexican Grill is set to report earnings after the bell, followed by a conference call at 4:30 p.m. What history shows: Data from Bespoke Investment Group shows Chipotle beats earnings expectations 76% of the time and averages a 1.7% gain on earnings day. What history shows: Bespoke data shows Disney beats earnings per share estimates nearly 80% of the time. What history shows: PayPal earnings have beaten analyst earnings expectations nine of the last 10 quarter, according to FactSet.

☆ Did investors learn nothing from last year’s market meltdown?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Shares of movie theater chain AMC (AMC) have soared nearly 65% so far in 2023, and AMC (AMC)’s companion preferred stock (which trades under the ticker APE as a nod to the nickname AMC (AMC) fans have given themselves on social media) has more than doubled. So did investors learn nothing from last year’s market meltdown? I don’t agree with this market rally in meme stocks,” said Erik Ristuben, chief investment strategist with Russell Investments. Another strategist agrees this recent rally for meme stocks and other speculative bets may not end well. If they’re upbeat about spending, that could keep the rally in consumer stocks going.

☆ 7-Eleven is quietly testing self-driving robots to deliver Slurpees and Big Bite Hot Dogs in Los Angeles. Here's how it works.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

7-Eleven is testing autonomous robot deliveries in the Los Angeles area. 7-Eleven has been testing self-driving robots to deliver some of the convenience store chain's most iconic foods and snacks – from Slurpees to Big Bite Hot Dogs. Uber Eats is testing Serve's robots in Los Angeles. The robot deliveries for 7-Eleven can only be made through the 7-Eleven delivery app, dubbed 7Now. Serve Robotics launched in 2017 as a division of Postmates and has been testing its autonomous delivery robots since 2018.

In January 2023, Culver's ditched Pepsi and began promoting Coca-Cola products on its website. Coca-Cola beverages dominate restaurant chains. Up until recently, Culver's also served Pepsi beverages. But the Wisconsin-based fast-food chain, known for its butterburgers and frozen custard desserts, has ditched Pepsi for Coca-Cola products. The Culver's website now advertises that it sells about nine Coca-Cola beverages, including Diet Coke and Coke.

☆ Yum Brands says nearly 300 restaurants in UK impacted due to cyber attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) said late on Wednesday a ransomware attack impacted certain information technology systems of the company which led to the closure of nearly 300 restaurants in the United Kingdom for a day. The company added all the stores were now operational and it had initiated response protocols detection of the incident. Yum, which also owns the Pizza Hut chain and Taco Bell, did not specify which restaurants were impacted by the attack. The company said the event was not expected to have a material adverse impact on its business, operations or financial results. Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra EluriOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's rebranded McDonald's may expand into Kazakhstan after McDonald's reportedly banned its restaurants there from selling Russian meat, forcing them to close
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fast-food chain Vkusno & Tochka replaced some of McDonald's restaurants in Russia after they all closed. Alexander Govor, a Russian businessperson, bought Russia's closed McDonald's restaurants in May and rebranded them as Vkusno & Tochka, which translates as "tasty and that's it." Pavel Mikheyev/Getty ImagesMcDonald's confirmed to Insider that its contract with Food Solutions had been terminated. Kazakh news outlet Tengrinews, however, reported that Food Solutions' director said the company didn't plan to rebrand its restaurants as Vkusno & tochka. The chain said in December, however, that it was working on a substitute for McDonald's trademark Big Mac.

☆ Why one fast-casual restaurant is a Wall Street favorite, even with a recession looming
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

One fast-casual restaurant chain has remained a favorite on Wall Street even as the U.S. grapples with a potential looming recession. Over the past 15 months, the burrito chain has introduced three rounds of price increases that boosted the cost of its products 13% from a year earlier. In addition, many Wall Street analysts are forecasting a mild recession, which is better for fast-casual restaurants as the hope is consumers won't have to pull back very much or for very long. Potential for growth Another reason that Wall Street likes Chipotle is that it has solid potential for growth in the coming months and years, according to Zackfia. Overall, however, Wall Street sees fast-casual restaurants holding up to economic weakness.

☆ Pizza Hut is bringing back a fan favorite from the ’90s
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Pizza Hut is bringing back a fan favorite after a nearly 25-year hiatus. Despite it being sold for a brief time in 1999, the extra large pizza quickly became a favorite, and fans have been asking for Pizza Hut to bring it back ever since. The “Big New Yorker” is indeed big: It’s a 16-inch pizza that features six oversized and foldable slices. There’s a Change.org petition begging Pizza Hut to bring it back that has collected nearly 4,000 signatures. “It was the only good pizza that Pizza Hut ever offered,” one signatory pleads.

☆ Chili's CEO bought grills that can cook a medium steak in under 3 minutes — and says they could shave more than $5 million in losses from unhappy customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Over the summer, Chili's was testing drone delivery and dining-room robots to improve operations. But, under new CEO Kevin Hochman, Brinker-owned Chili's ditched robots in favor of kitchen automation. "The robotics were slower than what our servers can do," Hochman told Insider. "The robotics were slower than what our servers can do," Hochman told Insider. That alone is likely to save the company millions of dollars from having to comp steaks sent back by unhappy customers.

☆ Domino’s, Pizza Hut and Other Pizzerias Work to Recruit Delivery Drivers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Heather Haddon | Photographs Sophie Park For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pizza-delivery drivers, who helped chains such as Domino’s Pizza Inc. and Pizza Hut boost their sales during the Covid-19 pandemic, have become one of the $45 billion industry’s biggest problems. Chain executives said a shortage of drivers is costing them sales and frustrating customers with long wait times. Rising fuel and car-maintenance costs have made the job less appealing over the past year, workers said, as most drivers need to use their personal vehicles for pizza runs, and some said they deal with crime. Pizza restaurants’ often rigid schedules also make it harder to recruit and retain drivers, some operators said, versus more flexible food delivery apps such as Uber Technologies Inc.’s Uber Eats and Grubhub Inc.

☆ McDonald's and KFC pulled out of Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine but Domino's is still operating — for now
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Domino's is still selling pizza in Russia but its master franchisee says it has limited investment. DP Eurasia owns the Domino's stores in Russia, as well as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. A Domino's Pizza restaurant in Moscow in July 2017. At the end of October, DP Eurasia had 171 Domino's stores in Russia, 103 of which were run by franchisees. DP Eurasia subsidiary Domino's Russia has a master franchise agreement with Domino's Pizza International to operate stores until 2030.

☆ China is rolling back much of its Covid controls. That could spell a buying opportunity for these stocks
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

A reopening in the world's second-largest economy could spell a buying opportunity for investors as China unwinds much of its Covid restrictions. Investors have taken the recent developments as a signal to start snapping up China equities. What's more, they say that Chinese equities are cheap on a historical basis, and cheap compared to their emerging market peers. This month, Morgan Stanley said that Chinese equities have a "steep climb" after their underperformance during the pandemic. Yum China is the fourth-largest position in the Thornburg Developing World Fund (THDAX) , which has a roughly 29% allocation to China.

☆ Patagonia's founder, who gave his company to a non-profit, loves saving money. From eating cat food to living in beach shacks, here are some of the wackiest examples.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has had a frugal lifestyle since his early days as a climber and surfer. This includes eating cat food and taking soda bottles from trash cans to redeem for money. Even now, Chouinard still wears old clothes and drives a rundown Subaru, The NY Times reported. Before founding Patagonia, Chouinard made a living selling climbing equipment from the back of his car. In 1966, Chouinard set up a base for his equipment business, Chouinard Equipment, in a rented tin boiler room of an abandoned packing company slaughterhouse in California.

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