The 3 Best Fast Food Stocks of 2017

Fast food stocks delivered a wide range of returns for investors this year as companies battled for customer traffic in this highly competitive industry. A few well-known chains, including Chipotle (NYSE: CMG), underperformed by a wide margin. Others, like Panera, left the public markets altogether in favor of going private.

The stocks that trounced the S&P 500 did so by posting a mix of healthy sales and profitability gains. Let's take a closer look at the three best performers in the sector.

Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) outpaced the broader market by 10 percentage points this year as it showed off the power of a diversified approach to fast food. Sure, the Pizza Hut chain struggled with sales declines and a modest drop in profitability in 2017. However, those dips were more than offset by gains in Yum Brands' other chains.

Source: Fool.com