The stock of Yum! Brands (YUM) is up about 1% on news that it is planning to sell its Pizza Hut restaurant chain.
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Yum! Brands, which owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC, is conducting a strategic review of its options for Pizza Hut, including a potential sale of the restaurant chain. The iconic pizza chain, which has close to 20,000 locations globally, could be offloaded by year’s end, says Yum! Brands.
The potential sale of Pizza Hut comes as Yum! Brands looks to improve its finances and stock price. Over the last five years, YUM stock has risen only 35%, half the 70% return achieved by the benchmark S&P 500 index over the same time period.
Pizza Hut’s History
PepsiCo (PEP) purchased Pizza Hut in 1977 for $300 million. At the time, Pizza Hut was the world’s largest pizza restaurant chain, and the move marked Pepsi’s foray into the restaurant industry. Over the next decade, PepsiCo also acquired Taco Bell (1978) and KFC (1986) to expand its restaurant portfolio.
In October 1997, PepsiCo decided to shift its focus back to its core beverage and snack businesses and spun off its restaurant unit into a new publicly traded company called Tricon Global Restaurants. That company evolved into Yum! Brands. In 2025, Pizza Hut’s U.S. sales declined 5%, continuing a trend.
Analysts say that Pizza Hut could be sold for as much as $3.5 billion, given its size and brand strength.
Is YUM Stock a Buy?
Yum! Brands stock has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 20 analysts. That rating is based on six Buy and 14 Hold recommendations. The average YUM price target of $171.50 implies 7% upside from current levels.
