5 Best Retail Stocks To Watch For 2015

5 Best Retail Stocks To Watch For 2015: Yum! Brands Inc.(YUM)

YUM! Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a quick service restaurant company in the United States and internationally. It develops, operates, franchises, and licenses a system of restaurants, which prepare, package, and sell various food items, as well as operates Chinese casual dining concept restaurants. The company?s restaurants specialize in chicken, pizza, and Mexican-style food categories. It operates approximately 37,000 restaurants in 110 countries and territories under the KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell brands, as well as approximately 450 casual dining concept restaurants in China. The company was formerly known as TRICON Global Restaurants, Inc. and changed its name to YUM! Brands, Inc. in May 2002. YUM! Brands, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katie Lobosco]

  The California-based restaurant chain specializes in Mexican-style grilled chicken. It competes with Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) and other fast-casual restaurants like Chick-fil-A and Yum! Brands (YUM) KFC.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images The Rolling Stones may have sung about not getting any satisfaction, but now Burger King (BKW) patrons can't get any Satisfry-action. The burger chain announced last week that it was discontinuing the relatively healthier french fries. It was easy to see why the crinkle-cut fries were doomed. Satisfries may have had an interesting marketing angle -- they were promoted as having 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than a comparably sized McDonald's (MCD) fries -- but charging 30 cents more for an order than Burger King's own regular shoestring spuds was a deal breaker. Despite the slightly healthier attributes, it was a value proposition that didn't resonate with Burg! er King's penny-pinching customers. Burger King may have served up 100 million orders of Satisfries since they were introduced late last year, but it wasn't enough. Then again, seeing how other fast food giants have fared in rolling out ill-fated healthier fare, the only real surprise is that Burger King tried at all. Seaweed Burgers and Shaking Salads Outside of perhaps Subway -- which has set itself apart on its "eat fresh" mantra and healthier sandwiches, wraps and salads -- it's been hard for any major quick-service chain to establish itself as a place for nutrition table watchers. The failures have been plenty. Let's start with Burger's King's biggest rival. McDonald's introduced the McLean Deluxe in 1991. True to the "lean" in its name, the McLean Deluxe was a reduced-fat burger, made with 91 percent lean beef and an edible red seaweed extract. Taste tests went well, and McDonald's received critical praise for offering a slightly healthier menu option for burger lovers. It didn't succeed. McDonald's nixed it five years later. Another McDonald's attempt to woo health-conscious diners was the McShaker salad that was served in an enclosed plastic cup that diners would shake to mix up. It was another flop, but largely on logistics of the experience. T

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Mark Lennihan/AP There were plenty of winners and losers this week, with a car rental giant revealing that it will fall short of its earlier expectations and the leading Mexican fast food chain raising the stakes in the battle for hungry bargain seekers. Here's a rundown of the week's best and worst. Hertz (HTZ) -- Loser Renting cars isn't an easy gig these days. Auto rental giant Hertz announced that it will fall well short of earlier expectations, laying the blame on everything from weak demand for its equipment business to recalls getting in the way of its car supply. A couple of analysts lowered their ratings on the stock following the news. The shares started to bounce back after billionaire a! ctivist i! nvestor Carl Icahn revealed that he has taken a stake in the company, but his intentions are sometimes radical. Hertz was already trying to split its business in two, suffering from the restatements and delayed financials accompanying the move. The last thing Hertz needs is another distraction. GameStop (GME) -- Winner The video game industry is showing a lot of life these days, and GameStop, the dominant retailer, posted blowout quarterly results after Thursday's market close. Sales soared 25 percent relative to last year, fueled by a 21.9 percent spike in comparable-store sales. Hardware sales were naturally strong. The Xbox One and PS4 weren't out a year ago. Even new software sales -- something that's been sluggish for years -- came through with a double-digit increase. That's huge, since software carries much higher margins than consoles. Analysts were seemingly aggressive in expecting earnings per share to double for the period, but profits per share soared 144 percent. Game on, Wall Street. Bank of America (BAC) -- Loser Bank of America continues to pay the price for the misdeeds of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, which helped trigger the subprime lending crisis that led to a global economic setback. The "too big to fail" bank is apparently not

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/5-best-retail-stocks-to-watch-for-2015.html