Restaurant Brands International (QSR) reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Thursday amid strong comparable sales growth at Burger King across domestic and international markets.
The Tim Hortons parent's adjusted earnings came in at $1.07 a share for the quarter ended June, up from $0.94 the year before, topping the FactSet-polled consensus of $1.04. Revenue improved to $2.52 billion from $2.41 billion, in line with the Street's view.
Comparable sales rose 3.8%, exceeding the average analyst estimate for growth of 3%.
"We built on our strong start to 2026 with another quarter of over 3% global comparable sales and double-digit earnings growth, led by Burger King's standout performance and continued strength at international," Chief Executive Josh Kobza said in a statement.
Burger King same-store sales jumped 8.5% in the US and 5.4% internationally, compared with gains of 1.5% and 4.1%, respectively, in the prior-year quarter.
Last month, RBC Capital Markets said it expected Burger King's momentum to have continued into the second quarter, partially driven by underlying improvement as the company revamped its marketing campaign. The brokerage saw "further runway for improvement" as the company continued to remodel stores, it said in a client note at the time.
Earlier in the week, rival McDonald's (MCD) reported second-quarter revenue below market expectations as comparable sales growth in the US slowed amid a challenging consumer environment. The fast-food giant appointed Skye Anderson as president of McDonald's USA, as part of efforts to boost long-term profitable growth of its US business.
Restaurant Brands' second-quarter comparable sales growth at Tim Hortons slowed to 0.1% from 3.4% in the year-ago quarter. The metric declined 5.1% at the Popeyes brand and edged up 0.4% at Firehouse Subs.
International same-store sales advanced 5.5%.
Restaurant Brands continues to project comparable sales growth of more than 3% from 2024 to 2028 and reach net restaurant growth north of 5% towards the end of its algorithm period. Net restaurant growth remained unchanged year over year at 2.9% in the second quarter.
Last week, KFC owner Yum Brands (YUM) reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, although revenue missed estimates as a recent food-safety issue weighed on demand at Taco Bell.



