Taco Bell Visits Plunge Up to 19% Amid Cyclospora Outbreak Fears
YUM is trading near its 52-week low of $137.33 (7.0% above the low).
Summary
Foot traffic to Taco Bell dropped as much as 18.9% last Wednesday through Friday compared to the year-to-date daily average, according to Placer.ai data cited by the WSJ. The decline follows a cyclospora outbreak initially linked to Taylor Farms lettuce, though the FDA has since walked back a positive test. Taco Bell removed the supplier's lettuce, but the damage to traffic is now quantified. Chipotle and Panera also saw smaller declines of up to 6.9% and 6.6%, respectively. This is the first hard data on consumer avoidance, making the revenue impact tangible for Yum's largest brand. The outbreak timeline has been escalating since mid-July, and this traffic data adds a new, material dimension to the risk.
At the time of this announcement, YUM was trading at $146.94 on NYSE in the Trade & Services sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $40.5B. The 52-week trading range was $137.33 to $170.14. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.