Wendy's operates quick-service restaurants, with approximately 6,500 franchised and company-owned restaurants in the U.S. and 30 other countries. With a market cap of approximately $3.0 billion, the shares are generally considered mid-cap growth. In February 2024, Kirk Tanner began as CEO and president; he had worked for PepsiCo Inc. for decades, with experience in both the company's food and beverage businesses.

Stocks are broadly lower at midday. At the very least, it seems some price-gain exhaustion may have set in after the solid progress last week. That said, earnings reports are flowing in and some companies are indeed pulling their forecasts and/or quantifying the impact of tariffs on their businesses.

In this edition, end of an era gets nearer for Berkshire Hathaway; same-store NOI growth momentum creates REIT winners; macro uncertainty weighs on Teradyne guidance; and Wendy's, Bio-Rad, and Qualcomm. .

The Wendy’s Company is the second-largest burger quick-service restaurant, or QSR, chain in the United States by systemwide sales, with $12.6 billion in 2024, narrowly edging Burger King ($11.5 billion) and clocking in well behind wide-moat McDonald’s ($51.1 billion). After divestitures of Tim Hortons (2006) and Arby’s (2011), the firm manages just the burger banner, generating sales across a footprint that spanned more than 7,200 total stores in 30 countries as of year-end 2024. Wendy’s generates revenue from the sale of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, and fries throughout its company-owned footprint, through franchise royalty and marketing fund payments remitted by its franchisees, which account for roughly 94% of stores, and through franchise flipping and advisory fees.