YUM! Brands, Inc. YUM reported strong fourth-quarter 2020 results, wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Both the metrics also improved year over year. Following the results, the company’s shares are up 2.9% in pre-market trading session.Strong digital sales, and the company’s capabilities to adjust operations, menu options and marketing worldwide helped it amid the challenging scenario. In 2020, digital sales amounted to $17 billion, up 45% year over year.The company’s adjusted earnings of $1.15 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 99 cents. In the prior-year quarter, the company had reported adjusted earnings of $1.00.YUM! Brands’ total revenues of $1,743 million surpassed the consensus estimate of $1,731 million. The top line also improved 3% year over year. The upside can be attributed to increase in company sales.Worldwide system sales — excluding foreign currency translation — declined 2% year over year with Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut decreasing 3%, 1% and 6%, respectively.Yum Brands, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Yum Brands, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Yum Brands, Inc. QuoteDivisional PerformanceYUM! Brands primarily reports results under three divisions — KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.For fourth-quarter 2020, revenues from KFC totaled $711 million, down 3% year over year. Comps at this division declined 2% against the year-ago quarter’s growth of 3%.This segment’s operating margin contracted 140 basis points (bps) year over year to 37.6% primarily due to increase in general and administrative expenses, and dismal franchise same-store sales.In the quarter under review, KFC Division opened 587 gross new restaurants.At Pizza Hut, revenues amounted to $289 million, down 3% on a year-over-year basis. Comps declined 1% in the reported quarter, compared with a decrease of 2% in the prior-year quarter.The segment’s operating margin was down 150 bps year over year to 28.7% due to dismal international same-store sales, higher general and administrative expenses, and net unit decrease, which offset U.S. franchise bad debt recoveries.Pizza Hut Division opened 337 gross new restaurants during the third quarter.Taco Bell’s revenues were $628 million, down 6% from the year-ago quarter. Comps rose 1% in the reported quarter compared with the year-ago quarter’s growth of 4%. Its operating margin was up 10 bps year over year to 33.8%. It was primarily driven by lower general and administrative expenses, and higher company restaurant margins in the reported quarter.Taco Bell recorded 93 gross new restaurants openings during the quarter under review.Habit Burger sales amounted to $115 million. Comps at this division declined 5%. In the quarter, the company opened seven gross new restaurants.Other Financial DetailsCash and cash equivalents as of Dec 31, 2020, totaled $730 million compared with $605 million on Dec 31, 2019. Long-term debt at the end of the reported quarter was $10,272 million compared with $10,131 million at 2019-end.Zacks Rank & Other Key PicksYum! Brands, which shares space with McDonald's Corporation MCD, carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.Some other top-ranked stocks, which warrant a look in the same space include Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. TACO and Jack in the Box Inc. JACK, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2.Del Taco Restaurants and Jack in the Box has a three-five-year earnings per share growth rate of 15% and 10.6%, respectively.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Jack In The Box Inc. (JACK): Get Free Report McDonalds Corporation (MCD): Free Stock Analysis Report Yum Brands, Inc. (YUM): Free Stock Analysis Report Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. (TACO): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research