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It may not have been a "whopper" of a quarter for Restaurant Brands Int'l (QSR), but the Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeye's parent company edged past Q4 EPS expectations and saw consolidated comparable sales growth accelerate to 2.5% from just 0.3% last quarter. The company also reaffirmed its long-term outlook, guiding for comparable sales growth of 3%+, net restaurant growth of 5%+, and system-wide sales growth of 8%+ for the 2024-2028 timeframe.

The upside results come on the heels of rival McDonald's (MCD) delivering a better-than-feared Q4 report on Monday morning, which included a return to positive global comps to +0.4%, despite the E. coli outbreak that occurred in September and October. Although the impact to MCD was less severe than anticipated, it does appear that QSR -- and Burger King in particular -- benefitted from MCD's issues.

• After reporting comps of (0.7)% in Q3, Burger King swung back into positive territory in Q4 with comps of +1.1%. In the U.S., comps were a bit stronger at +1.5%, compared to -1.4% for MCD, indicating that Burger King picked up some share during the quarter. In addition to the E. Coli outbreak at MCD, Burger King's new promotions, such as its "Million Dollar Whopper" deal, also connected with customers. Under that promotion, Burger King sold one million Whoppers for $1.
• Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen (PLK) also had a bounce back quarter with U.S. comps edging higher by 0.1% following last quarter's -4.0% performance across all restaurants. The improved results were boosted by new value offerings such as the $6 big box value and the protein-only 3-for-$5 offering, enabling PLK to modestly expand its market share within the chicken QSR category. In addition to new menu innovations, QSR is simplifying operations, enhancing technology, and introducing new kitchen equipment at PLK. By the end of 2026, the company's goal is for all PLK locations in the U.S. to have cloud-based point-of-sale systems, digital drop charts, kiosks, order-ready boards, and back-of-house equipment.
• Turning to Tim Hortons, the company's Canada-based coffeehouse and breakfast chain, comp growth remained steady at +2.2%, mainly driven by traffic, and just a tick lower than last quarter's +2.3% mark. The chain, which is QSR's largest at about 40% of total revenue, is seeing healthy demand for its breakfast offerings, including sandwiches, wraps, and new innovations like its recently launched Canadian scrambled eggs.

All in all, this was a solid earnings report for QSR and the reaffirm of the company's longer-term outlook offers some encouragement that its ongoing turnaround at Burger King will reach a higher gear in the years to come.