Yum! Brands stock is already down over 10% in 2022
Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) is an American fast-food corporation headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The restaurant name develops, operates, and franchises various quick service restaurant brands across the world. Yum! Brands' portfolio of popular fast-food brands includes KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. YUM also owns The Habit Burger Grill and WingStreet. YUM closed Monday at $121.40.
Yum! Brands stock has increased about 15% year-over-year and YUM is currently trading up 20% since dropping to a multi-year low of $101.94 last March. However, shares of YUM have decreased in price 12% year-to-date and Yum! Brands stock is currently down 13% from its peak at an all-time high of $139.85 reached at the end of 2021. The equity also offers a forward dividend of $2.28 with a dividend yield of 1.87%.
Moreover, YUM has an inflated valuation with a price-earnings ratio of 23.30 and a price-sales ratio of 5.69. Yum! Brands also have a weak balance sheet with $486 million in cash and $11.25 billion in total debt making Yum! Brands stock a risky play for long-term investors.
Looking toward the options pits, YUM's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.40 stands higher than just 4% of readings from the past 12 months. In other words, short-term options traders have rarely been more call-biased.