Why Are These 4 Stocks Making Waves This Morning?

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) shares are 1% higher after the restaurant chain disclosed positive Chinese same-store sales in December. For the final month of 2015, the company’s KFC same-store sales jumped by 5% year-over-year while its Pizza Hut unit same-store sales declined by 11% year-over-year. Because Yum has substantially more KFC’s than Pizza Huts in China, its total same-store sales inched up by 1% year-over-year for the month and rose by 2% year-over-year for the fourth-quarter. Because of the future spin-off of Yum’s China stores, Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) needs its China business to do well in order for the stock to do well. Dan Loeb‘s Third Point is a big believer in Yum, owning 11.6 million shares of the company at the end of September.

Wrapping up our list of trending stocks this morning is nano-cap Aeropostale Inc (NYSE:ARO), whose shares have rallied nearly 10% this morning after the beleaguered retail chain announced that it will target $35 million-to-$40 million in annual cost savings through layoffs and decreased indirect spending. Bulls hope management’s efforts aren’t too little or too late. Hedge funds aren’t as optimistic, as the number of elite funds holding Aeropostale Inc (NYSE:ARO) shares fell by six to nine during the third quarter. It should be said that those nine funds do hold almost 25% of the float as of September 30, however.

Disclosure: None