A friend of mine -- who recently came to LA -- ordered a Papa John's Int'l, Inc. (Nasdaq: PZZA) pizza. She used the Internet. All in all, it was pretty efficient.

Well, according to a recent report, Papa John's has sold about $1 billion in pizzas (over the past seven years). That's certainly a lot of dough, huh? And, as should be no surprise, the growth rate has been stunning: about 50% per year.

There is lots of competition, such as Dominos Pizza (Nasdaq: DPZ) and Pizza Hut. And interestingly enough, Pizza Hut plans to launch a web-enabled widget so you can get pizza at super-fast speeds (I'm sure this will be a big hit for Web 2.0 programmers, who tend to eat pizza at about 2 a.m.).

But, as my friend has experienced, there are some glitches. Ordering online it took two hours for her to get her pizza.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) reported Q1 numbers Tuesday after the bell, and the company came through with double-digit growth on the bottom line. Net sales increased 8%, and earnings per share, adjusted for special items, increased 19% to $0.42.

There's a lot of cool stuff in this report that shareholders will view in a positive light. The international story for Yum! is a good one, with operating profit for this part of the company increasing 18%. China continues to be a strong territory for the KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut brands -- as many have pointed out, Yum! is a great way to gain exposure to this market. And how about this -- management saw fit to buy back shares of the company to the tune of almost a billion bucks! That says something to shareholders, as does the increased guidance. Granted, Yum! upped the per-share expectation by only a couple of pennies to $1.87 (excluding items), but that's still the right direction, isn't it? Also, according to Briefing.com, the company beat Wall Street's expectations by two cents.

Yum!, which competes with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC), Wendy's (NYSE: WEN), and all manner of neighborhood eateries, needs to continue the good fight on the home front. It reversed a negative same-store sales trend this past quarter, but management must not rest on this nice stat -- Yum! must explore better marketing campaigns and branding tactics to keep the comps headed higher. Yum!'s stock is not far from a 52-week high, but I'm currently bullish on its prospects.

Disclosure: I own none of the companies mentioned here; positions can change at any time.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) reported earnings last night, and while they weren't the stuff of bubble-like growth, I found them tasty enough. The top line grew by a tame 9% for fiscal 2007, while the bottom line expanded by a much healthier (did I actually use the word "healthier" in a post about Yum! Brands?) 15%, with earnings per diluted share rising to $1.68 versus $1.46 for fiscal 2006. You can thank growth in China, a lower tax rate, a reduction in share count due to buybacks, and that little thing that so many investors love but feels so un-American -- the weak greenback -- for the bottom-line performance.

I've never been to Taco Bell, there are no Pizza Huts in my area, and I only get KFC a few times a year (one of those times being Thanksgiving -- I kid you not, no turkey for me), but I think Yum! is an interesting company and its stock is one that long-term investors can feel comfortable looking at. In my opinion, its P/E is reasonable based on company guidance of $1.85 for 2008. In addition, operating cash flow for 2007 increased 20% to $1.6 billion.

Big caveat here is the dismal same-store performance experienced in the U.S -- system-wide comps were flat and company-wide comps declined 3%. Bad though that may be, I still have confidence in the value of the brands, and I believe that, in time, management will stumble upon new marketing campaigns to get the comps up. For now, investors can look positively upon the company's recent dividend history and the willingness of Yum! to purchase its own shares. With shares are off their highs and with the company's quarterly results of 44 cents per share beating analyst estimates yet again, you'll see why Yum! might indeed be worth a bit of diligence.

Saturday, I was honored to be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend's weddings. The day started at 8:00 a.m. with a hair appointment - following a late rehearsal-dinner night on Friday - and didn't conclude until exactly 2:02 a.m. Why do I remember the end time so well? Because if I'd only concluded all of the dancing, the drinking, and the well-wishing 3 minutes earlier, I would have made it to the Taco Bell drive-through in time for a very late-night snack, or what the Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) unit calls the "fourth meal." I had to settle for a competitor that keeps its drive-through open 24 hours but doesn't offer 7-layer burritos.

Turns out I'm not the only one with a hankering for Taco Bell food. Its parent company, which also operates the KFC, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver's brands, reported after the close that its third-quarter profit jumped 17% to $270 million, or 50 cents per share. This figure was a nickel above analysts' expectations.

Revenue rose 13% to $2.56 billion on a year-over-year basis, also exceeding the Street's consensus view (of $2.44 billion). Looking forward, YUM now expects to book full-year earnings results of $1.65 per share, a penny above analysts' estimates.

Yum Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) reported a better than expected quarter with the international division leading the way. U.S. sales were basically flat, but the international division drove revenues up 12% year-over-year, and earnings up 13%. The Street was expecting an 11% increase.

Yum Brands suffered a serious set back in the New York City market in late 2006 when a Taco Bell restaurant had an E.coli outbreak and over 70 patrons became ill. The Taco Bell/KFC brand suffered another setback when a television crew in New York City filmed rats running in and out of the restaurant. Yum Brands has certainly taken the steps to prevent either situation from ever happening again, but the public image perception will take more time to change.

Due to the two unfortunate situations, same-store sales for the quarter were a negative 3%, mostly attributed to Taco Bell's negative 7% sales growth. KFC and Pizza Hut posted positive same-store sales, not enough to offset Taco Bell's results though.

Yum has found its sweet spot in the international division. The company is on track to open up 800 new units overseas this year, 375 of those in China. The Chinese market has been quite receptive to the Yum brands of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC. The margins are as strong in the international markets and the room for aggressive growth is certainly prevalent.

Yum is executing on its strategy and should finish the year with earnings of $1.63 per share. For 2008 the company is endorsing $1.81-1.84. The upside to the numbers could come from the various concepts building strong same-store sales in the United States. The jury, however, is still out if the company's image has been re-built to the level it enjoyed before the nasty New York City incidents.

Georges Yared is the Chief Investment Strategist of Yared Investment Research.

Yum! Analysts and investors alike eagerly gobbled up the first quarter earnings surprise for Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), sending the stock up 6%, to $66.91 as of late afternoon, an increase of $3.79. The shares were briefly over $69, an all-time high for the company. The 70 cents-per-share profit was a 14% increase from the year-ago quarter and six cents ahead of analyst consensus.

The favorable results are even more of a surprise given that Yum! has taken several hits with its brands this year, from a rat infestation at a combined Taco Bell/KFC restaurant in New York to a lawsuit over the E-coli outbreak of Q4 2006, and has yet to discover any benefit from the removal of trans fat at its KFC restaurants.

Despite all the world's concentration on the obesity epidemic, the rise in popularity of organic foods, and the general frowning-upon marketing of fast food and other unhealthy choices to children; it seems like a great time to be the owner of some fast food stock.

[Photo kanepsphotography.]

McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) announced today that it is working hard at establishing a greater union presence at some of its stores in China. This move comes following news a couple weeks ago that McDonald's, KFC, and Yum Brands Inc.'s (NYSE: YUM) Pizza Hut weren't paying their employees enough.

McDonald's isn't the first major U.S. company to feel the pressure to unionize. Last year Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) allowed unions at each of its 62 stores in the country.

While public pressure definitely got turned up a notch with the recent pay allegations, McDonald's decision to allow a greater union presence is not just a reaction to this recent development. The company already has unions in place in some of its restaurants and has been working hard since last November at increasing the existence of unions in its restaurants across the country.