Yum! Brands Q3 Revenue Rises 4%; Adjusted EPS Is $1.56

What happened

Yum! Brands reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.05 billion, up 4% from a year earlier. Diluted GAAP EPS was $5.92, while EPS excluding Special Items was $1.56 versus $1.58. Results included a $1.68 billion pre-tax gain from completing the Pizza Hut divestitures.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

The $1.68 billion Pizza Hut gain inflates reported operating profit and GAAP earnings, but the $1.56 adjusted EPS, which excludes one-time items, actually fell slightly. That gap tells investors to judge the core restaurant business on adjusted profit and same-store sales rather than on headline growth.

Analyst inference

Yum is slimming its portfolio, selling Pizza Hut in mainland China to Yum China and the rest outside China to LongRange Capital. That leaves KFC and Taco Bell driving results. Excluding Pizza Hut, restaurant count grew 7%, and the company returned $1.8 billion to shareholders year to date through dividends and buybacks.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. KFC same-store sales, which measure sales at restaurants open at least a year, rose 1% worldwide, while system sales excluding foreign currency effects rose 6%. Confirmed
2. Watch whether Yum discloses a clear plan for using proceeds from the Pizza Hut sales, since no specific use of that cash was described in the supplied text. Proposed
3. Watch if adjusted EPS pressure continues, because falling profit per share excluding one-time items could signal weaker core earnings even as total revenue grows. Analyst inference

Evidence

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