Fast-food chain Yum Brands (YUM) shares were higher after the company reported Q4 financial results Thursday before the opening bell.
Same-store sales, a key metric for restaurants, grew 3% globally. Global sales were expected to have grown at a 2.5% rate during Q4.
KFC, Yum’s largest brand, saw 3% sales growth. Analysts forecasted 2.8% sales growth during the quarter.
Taco Bell continued to impress with a solid quarter of 6% sales growth, which was stronger than the 4.5% sales growth anticipated by Wall Street.
Pizza Hut’s same-store sales remained unchanged. However, analysts were expecting a sales decline of 0.2%.
“I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish in just two short years since we announced the transformation of Yum!.” CEO Greg Creed said in a statement. “Focus on our four growth drivers, increased collaboration and a new mindset are fueling strong results.”
Despite the strong same-store sales results, the company fell short of expectations on the top and bottom lines. Yum reported earnings of 40 cents per share during Q4, missing analysts expectations of 95 cents per share. Revenue also missing estimates at $1.56 billion per share. Analysts were predicting $1.59 billion in revenue for Yum.
Yum Brands’ earnings conference call kicks off at 8:15 a.m. ET.
Heidi Chung is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @heidi_chung.
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