Top 5 Restaurant Stocks to Buy Now

4. Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) tops its Chinese counterpart (which ranked sixth), coming in at fourth place. After a massive exodus from the stock between 2015 and 2017 that was partly due to the split from its Chinese operations, hedge funds have been slowly trickling back into YUM since early 2018. 42 of them were long YUM on September 30.

As with many other restaurants, YUM has been focused on boosting its digital initiatives this year, which has resulted in its system-wide digital sales mix rising above 30%. Digital sales grew by 25% year-over-year to $4 billion during Q3 even as same store sales were flat (at those locations which were open). Taco Bell was YUM’s strongest performing brand during Q3, growing same store sales by 3%, while Pizza Hut and KFC suffered 3% and 4% dips respectively.