(This is ” The Best Stocks in the Market ,” brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — I mentioned Restaurant Brands International (QSR) a few weeks ago on air when I talked about Casey’s General Stores (CASY) as two consumer stocks with a good technical setup and a good fundamental story to back up the charts. Casey’s has been doing great for us so far, starting at around $670, which we introduced in our halftime report, to hitting a new record of over $737 on Wednesday (why can’t it all be resolved this quickly?). If you take a CASY trade, you roll your stop up to the purchase price and are playing with house money. You can also fix the gain if desired. Anyway, during that appearance I said that I would eventually get around to writing QSR for this column, and that day came. Let’s go. Restaurant Brands International is a food chain consisting of Popeye’s Chicken, Burger King, Tim Hortons Doughnuts, and Firehouse Subs. I’m sure Mr. Collarbone eats at one of the restaurants every day. Calorie counting aside, this stock has been a port of calm in the recent storm, maintaining its year-to-date gains and earning a spot on our list of the market’s best stocks. This is a breakout underway as the stock breaks through resistance just above $75 and heads back toward its highs from two years ago in the low $80s. All eyes are on Brian Nicol’s turnaround at Starbucks, which could be a bigger success in 2026. 3G Capital is the controlling shareholder of the restaurant brand, and for years their advantage has been simple. The idea was to standardize everything through lean management and leave the heavy lifting to the franchise model. This strategy began to reach its limits when Burger King US lost relevance and franchisees’ profits declined. Instead of eliminating management, 3G made a more interesting bet. Keep Joshua Kobza, an in-house operator who understands the system, calm and replace him with Patrick Doyle as executive chairman. Kobza runs the business. Doyle’s job is to fix what the system isn’t delivering, improve the store’s economics, improve execution, and ultimately improve growth. Remember, Patrick Doyle is a quick service legend. His work for Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) shareholders is in the Hall of Fame. Let’s hang this on the rafters. Doyle took over the ailing brand in 2010, revised the product (he admitted it tasted awful), and pivoted aggressively toward digital ordering and apps. This allowed franchisees to once again make a profit. U.S. same-store sales turned positive and remained there, and the stock rose from about $8 to more than $250 during his tenure. As you can see above, the $10,000 he invested when he took over became almost $500,000 by the time he stepped down in June 2018. That’s the blueprint now being forced into Burger King through “Reclaim the Flame,” with real capital going toward renovations, marketing and franchisee support. The latest results show that Burger King’s U.S. same-store sales have turned positive and profitability for its franchisees has begun to improve, providing early evidence that the strategy is starting to take hold. Pershing Square is the underlying holder of this stock. Since its inception in an IPO in 2012, the fund has long had a concentrated position. I’m sure Bill Ackman must be happy with the latest developments here. What I like most about this story is how quickly it unfolds. Sean is going to dive in and I’m going back to risk management… Stocks to watch: Restaurant Brands International (QSR) Sean — Restaurant Brands International may not be a familiar name to most people, but you probably know their brand. Have you heard of the Whopper? What about Popeye? This company has great branding and the virality of Popeyes and Burger King is justified. They also run a pretty decent sandwich shop that rivals Subway called Firehouse Subs. And last but not least, Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee and donut shop that has taken the Midwest by storm. Among its four brands, QSR operates 33,000 restaurants in 125 markets, with more than 95% of its locations franchised. These four brands bring a lot of value to customers. Tim Hortons offers 10-packs of TimBits (donut holes) for $1.49, and BK’s Whopper Wednesdays have burgers for $3.99. Tim Hortons is the least expensive of the coffee chains, but Burger King has outperformed other hamburger quick-service restaurants in nine of the past 12 quarters. Firehouse is a growing name with net restaurant growth of 7.7% last year. It is currently growing five times faster than in 2021. Popeye’s has been the poor performer within the group, with comparable sales down 3% year-on-year, and there has been a change in leadership. QSR is not a slow growth company. For the next May quarter, the company expects sales to increase by 6%, EBIT to increase by 35%, and EPS to increase by 10% compared to the same period last year. The international division is the main driver of sales. There are six $1 billion markets for QSRs, excluding the US. As QSRs open more international locations, they are collecting higher royalty rates on those sales than the current overall average. This means that the overall royalty rate earned by the company across the system will increase by 1 to 2 basis points. QSRs are nearly 100% franchised, so almost every dollar of incremental royalty income goes straight to EPS. And with system-wide sales of nearly $50 billion, that small annual percentage increase translates into significant operating profit increases each year. Looking ahead, QSR has a goal of opening 1,800 net new restaurants per year by 2028, with the majority of new locations coming from overseas. Only 300 to 400 of these units are expected to come from the United States and Canada each year, with the remaining 1,400 or more coming from outside North America. This strengthens the loyalty story, diversifies revenue, and increases loyalty sustainability and consistency at a time when consumers can trade $10 coffee for half price. Risk Management Josh — I’m not saying you should pull the goalie in this game, but I hope you give the story the room it needs to develop. Therefore, I urge traders to use the 200-day line around $68 on a weekly closing price basis. Please ignore it for 50 days. It makes no sense at all. The stock is currently trading above the $75 ceiling it reached over the past year. This is an active attempt at a breakthrough. The difference now is the underlying trends. The price is above the rising 50-day and 200-day, momentum is confirmed with an RSI of around 60, and there is no divergence. If it resolves higher than this, the mid-to-high $80s isn’t much of an obstacle based on previous ranges. If the weekly close drops below $68 or the RSI divergence increases, you should step aside and reevaluate. So far, I’ve seen strength. Proceeds are expected to arrive in early May. Disclosure: (none) All opinions expressed by CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, its parent or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated on television, radio, the Internet, or another medium. This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice or a recommendation to purchase any securities or other financial assets. The Content is general in nature and does not reflect any individual’s unique personal circumstances. 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