Yum! Brands, Darden, Shake Shack named top restaurant picks at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer established Yum! Brands (YUM), Darden (DRI), and Shake Shack (SHAK) as the firm’s “top picks” for 2025 in the restaurant sector. Yum! represents a controversial large-cap idea with muted investor sentiment, the analyst says, adding that the firm anticipates an above-average same-store sales rebound in 2025 for a financial model better positioned against consensus than global peers. The firm noted that Darden is up 16% since its earnings report in December, and that it sees powerful catalysts across the portfolio against easier comparisons and anticipates low expectations to elevate as earnings outperform. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer believes new Shake Shack’s new management team’s strategy remains an overlooked driver for a brand with several unused sales/margin levers.