Taco Bell Social Sentiment Back to Pre-Outbreak Levels, Yum CEO Says
YUM is trading near its 52-week low of $137.33 (13% above the low).
Summary
Yum Brands CEO says Taco Bell's social sentiment measures have fully recovered to pre-cyclospora outbreak levels, signaling fading reputational damage. The CFO noted that U.S. same-store sales declined 2% quarter-to-date through July 27, with the largest impact over the July 18 weekend, but declines have moderated materially with steady day-over-day improvement. The company is moving quickly to address outbreak issues. The sentiment recovery removes a key overhang for the brand, which remains Yum's main growth engine after the Pizza Hut sale, and Q2 same-store sales were up 7%, suggesting limited operational impact.
At the time of this announcement, YUM was trading at $155.70 on NYSE in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $41.9B. The 52-week trading range was $137.33 to $170.14. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.