Burger King and Popeyes parent Restaurant Brands International Inc. QSR reported Tuesday fourth-quarter profit that fell short of expectations while revenue topped forecasts, and named a new chief executive officer. The restaurant chain operator’s stock was still inactive in premarket trading. Net income rose to $229 million, or 74 cents a share, from $179 million, or 57 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share slipped to 72 cents from 74 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 74 cents. Revenue grew 9.2% to $1.69 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.67 billion. Same-store sales for Burger King rose 8.4% but missed expectations of 9.0% growth, for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen increased 3.8% to exceed expectations of 2.7% and for Tim Hortons increased 9.4% to beat forecasts of 6.6%. Separately, the company said it named Joshua Kobza as its CEO effective March 1, succeeding Jose Cil who was in the role since January 2019. The stock has rallied 14.4% over the past three months while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 4.6%.
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