Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), which competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN) for the right to feed consumers on the go around the world, issued a Q3 report after the bell on Tuesday that was decent in many respects. Earnings per share on an adjusted basis increased over 20% to 70 cents. This performance absolutely embarrassed the analysts, who were looking for a mere 58 cents per share according to our earnings preview.

So, that was one of the decent parts. Actually, I'd say it was a little more than decent. But, unfortunately, the top line didn't grow. Total revenues actually declined 2%.

At the time of this writing, shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), a company that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), were trading higher by well over 4%. Volume was doing well, too. Interestingly enough, Yum! Brands will be reporting Q3 earnings on Tuesday, October 6, after the bell. Does this mean that you should buy in ahead of the release?

On the surface, I suppose the market is telling you that Yum! Brands would indeed make a good earnings trade. Not only is the stock up nicely this afternoon, but it isn't too far from a 52-week high.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), a chain of restaurant trademarks that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), delivered up a nice hot serving of earnings on Tuesday after the bell.

For the second quarter, net sales dropped 7%. Earnings on an adjusted basis increased 10% to 50 cents per share. This was actually much better than analysts' expectations. Wall Street was only counting on 43 cents per share, according to Bloomberg. However, the market is always looking forward, so there was a bit of bad news in terms of guidance pertaining to same-store sales.

Restaurant operator CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR) reported first-quarter earnings of 26 cents per share after the closing bell yesterday. While the results were five cents shy of last year's results, they topped the consensus estimate by a penny per share. Quarterly revenue totaled $446.8 million, far better than the Street's estimate calling for $343.1 million.

The company also announced that same-store sales dropped 5.2% during the latest four-week period. At the company's Carl's Jr. restaurants, sales dropped 7.1%, while Hardee's saw a drop of 2.7%.

Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC), a fast-food chain whose colleagues include Burger King (NYSE: BKC), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), reported earnings for the third quarter on Tuesday after the bell. The shares have done well today on the news. As I write this, Sonic's stock is up well over 12% in afternoon trading. Volume is great. Do you want to get in on the action?

Sonic said it earned an adjusted 24 cents per share. This article reported expectations as being $0.20 per share, so management beat the bottom line by a nice amount. We'll throw that result on the positive side of the line.

Fast-food firm McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) received a boost this morning, as Deutsche Bank upped the company to Buy from Hold. The brokerage noted that the burger behemoth could receive a boost in the second half of the year from its McCafe line of beverages. These drinks are now available in 10,000 locations, up from 1,000 restaurants a year ago.

McCafe is in the midst of a heavy advertising campaign, which includes TV, radio, print, online and outdoor ads that were launched earlier this month. MCD is spending more than $100 million in order to introduce McCafe to the American masses.

Burger King (NYSE: BKC), a fast-food joint that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), issued its Q3 report on Wednesday. The top line didn't do much, rising only 1% in the face of difficulties with currency translations. Earnings came in at 34 cents per share. That was one penny better than Wall Street's expectations, according to Reuters.

It's always good to beat the earnings call. But Burger King didn't get much mileage out of that victory. The stock actually sold off 3% on the news, closing yesterday at a fresh 52-week low of $16.55. The big catalyst was the conservative fiscal-year guidance.

Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC), the drive-in fast-food joint that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), and Burger King (NYSE: BKC), reported second-quarter earnings after the bell on Monday. You know that video-game character Sonic the Hedgehog? Know how he's fast? Well, Sonic the burger server is unlike Sonic the software character right now when it comes to growing its business.

Early this morning, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) reported February sales, which may act as a lodestone on quarterly earnings. According to MarketWatch, MCD's systemwide sales dropped 4.6%, but "currency fluctuation" caused the problem. Without these fluctuations, MCD's sales would have increased 3.2%.

MCD's same-store sales increased 2.8% in February, or 6.8% excluding a calendar shift for an extra day in February 2008. European sales decreased slightly, but were up 4% taking the calendar shift into account.

Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), a fast-food company that competes with McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), reported earnings for the fourth quarter on Monday. Call me unimpressed.

The chain earned $0.05 per share on an adjusted basis. According to this article, the results matched expectations. I don't begrudge Wendy's/Arby's for doing that in such a tough marketplace. But I do begrudge the weakness in the Arby's brand. Systemwide same-store sales at Wendy's were up 3.7% in Q4, while systemwide comps at Arby's were down a terrible 8.5%. Arby's is having problems attracting people with its current menu portfolio. The value menu at Wendy's, on the other hand, seems to be a strategy that is working. Customers are coming in, ready to get a deal on those delicious, although not-so-healthy, square-shaped burgers. So, if the company wants to improve its situation, it's going to have to get serious about fixing Arby's.

When the economy gets tough, eat fried chicken. This must be the mantra of many Britons; at least, that's the way Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) is betting. The company this weekend announced it was opening 200 to 300 new stores in north England and south Wales over the next few years, increasing its current concentration by about 30%. On top of relatively good earnings reported for the fiscal fourth quarter earlier this month, Yum! Brands is looking almost ... optimistic. Could it be?

It could. Not only is KFC opening outlets in England and China as the rest of the world cowers in job-cutting fear of the Things To Come, but the stock is in a hopeful place; at about $28.70 this afternoon, up 0.24% on the day and, having recovered from a low near $22 in November 2008, seemingly headed in an upward arc toward its year-ago territory above $35. At this price, and with this great hope for the future, KFC could be a good buy.

While customers may not realize how appropriate it is to be picking meat off the bones of chicken wings in hard times (I'll bet many a Depression-era cook made two chicken wings into a whole family's meal), investors are happily cashing in on the meaty prospects of Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ: BWLD) this week. After reporting a shocker of a quarter -- up 28.7% over the year-earlier quarter with $7.7 million, or $0.43 per share, on revenue $121.2 million -- investors were heartened. It was just three months ago that BWLD missed expectations with net income of $4.6 million, or $0.25 per share, on revenues of $106.1 million. Same-store sales at company-owned stores were up 6.8% in the third quarter compared to a 4.5% growth in the fourth quarter.

Burger King (NYSE: BKC), a famous fast-food joint that competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), and Wendy's/Arby's Group (NYSE: WEN), reported earnings for the fiscal second quarter on Thursday. Net sales decreased 3%, and net income dipped 8% to $0.33 per diluted share. The call was for $0.37 per share.

It's good to be the King, but it's not good to miss your earnings forecast. Yes, we shouldn't always pay attention to the analysts and their game, and it's certainly difficult these days to make forecasts anyway, but it's always nice to see a company at least hit the ballpark in terms of consensus.

The press release cited concerns with currency translations, so that's something for shareholders to keep in mind. But the release also cited something that I think is one of the best elements of the Burger King story: its marketing campaigns. Management was happy to congratulate itself on being highlighted by trade journal Ad Week. I know, it's just corporate bragging in an earnings document, who needs that, right? While that may be true, I do honestly believe that Burger King's TV spots have definitely built a loyal following among the valuable youthful demos, and that the campaigns, which have included that creepy royal mascot, are indeed responsible for growth. And those Whopper Virgins commercials were pretty funny, too.

As the reigning king of the fast food industry, McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) has consistently demonstrated its adroitness in addressing changing economic conditions and consumer preferences.

The company's fourth-quarter earnings report provided a stark testimonial to the effectiveness of McDonald's strategy and management. Reporting earnings of 87 cents per share for the quarter, MCD exceeded the 2007 fourth-quarter results after adjusting for a 2007 tax bonus to earnings of 33 cents per share.

The company reported a 3% drop in revenues for the quarter. Excluding currency exchange rates, the global company reported an increase in revenues of 5% for the period.

Fast food giant McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is going to be reporting its fourth quarter results Monday, and investor's are going to be watching this one closely as McDonald's has so far been one of the rare blue chip stocks that has been able to perform well in the current economic slowdown.

While the market has been pretty rocky for most companies, McDonald's has continued to hold up very well, and over the past 3 months the stock has risen by 6.5%. If you look at the last 12 months, the stock has been even more impressive, showing a rise of 13.9%, which any investor would have loved to have over the past year.

Going into Monday's earnings report, the company is expected to show earnings of $0.83 per share. For its fourth quarter 2007, McDonald's put up earnings of $0.73 per share, which beat analyst estimates by 2 pennies.

Taking a look at same store sales in the quarter, it would appear that it should be another strong quarter for the company. In October, same store sales were up by 8.2%, and the company followed that up by showing same store sales growth of 7.7% for the month of November.