Weekly "Focus" and Mexicana

Do you remember when the Chipotle Mexican Grill* restaurant chain had a major food scare? Here’s the cover of Bloomberg Business magazine from the end of 2015 titled: “Outbreak – Can Chipotle get over food poisoning?”.

 

 

Hard to have a successful fast-food chain when customers are getting sick. The shares of the company were trading above US$700 in 2015 and dropped to under US$300 two years later. But improving food safety procedures and a focus on delivering quality to customers have propelled the shares by more than 10 times, now trading over US$3,100 (i). McDonalds* was an early investor in Chipotle and sold their remaining position in 2006. They reported their quarterly results this week, as did Restaurant Brands International*, owner of Burger King, Popeye’s, and Tim Hortons. So far in 2024 Chipotle is the hands down winner based on its stock market performance.

 

		Total Return in 2024		Dividend Yield
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG-US)		+37.2%		0.0%
McDonalds (MCD-US)		-6.9%		2.4%
Restaurant Brands International (QSR-US)		-4.8%		3.2%

Source: FactSet, Values as of May 2, 2024

 

This week’s "Focus" from our economics team is attached.

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Brad

Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Advisor