Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE: QSR) released its fourth-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Monday. The company said that it had $0.75 in earnings per share (EPS) and $1.48 billion in revenue, which compares with consensus estimates of $0.73 in EPS and $1.47 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the restaurant operator said it had $0.68 in EPS and $1.38 billion in revenue.

Overall, Restaurant Brands saw systemwide sales grow 10% in the fourth quarter.

Perhaps the biggest news out of this report was that Popeye’s new chicken sandwich shocked Wall Street. Even with the craze going on this fall, analysts only predicted that there would be a 15% increase in same-store sales at Popeye’s. Instead, the number came in more than double that at 34.4%. Popeye’s also saw systemwide sales increase 42% in this time.

In terms of the segment breakdown, the company reported as follows:

• Tim Horton’s revenues increased 2.3% year over year to $872 million, with comparable sales declining 4.3%.
• Burger King revenue increased 8.2% to $462 million, with comparable sales increasing by 2.8%.
• Popeyes’ revenue increased by 36.8% to $145 million, with comparable sales increasing 34.4%.

CEO Jose Cil commented:

Burger King delivered its strongest year of restaurant growth in the last two decades. Popeyes launched an iconic Chicken Sandwich that has proven to be a game changer for the brand in every way. At Tim Hortons, our performance did not reflect the incredible power of our brand and it is clear that we have a large opportunity to refocus on our founding values and what has made us famous with our guests over the years, which will be the basis for our plan in 2020.

Shares of Restaurant Brands traded up almost 3% early Monday at $65.66, in a 52-week range of $60.58 to $79.46. The consensus price target is $70.50.

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