How to Buy Tim Hortons Stock | Invest in QSR

Fast-food joints across the industry have benefited from inflation-driven demand as consumers opt for budget-friendly alternatives. Want to be part of this trend? Consider investing in Tim Hortons, a Canadian fast-food and coffeehouse chain, part of a holding company that is one of the largest providers of fast-food restaurants in the world. This guide will analyze the most important facts about the restaurant chain, explain how to buy Tim Hortons stock through its parent company, as well as provide you with an overview of the best brokers to use.

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What is Tim Hortons?

Tim Hortons appeals to a variety of customers with a menu that includes premium coffee drinks, donuts, sandwiches, wraps, and other fast-food options. The company was co-founded by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, and operates as a franchise. 

Who owns Tim Hortons?

Tim Hortons is a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which is itself majority-owned by Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital. RBI was formed in 2014 through the $11 billion purchase of Tim Horton by the American fast-food restaurant chain Burger King. Later, it expanded with the 2017 acquisition of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and, most recently, Firehouse Subs. The company is the world’s fifth-largest provider of fast food restaurants behind Subway, McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM). 

Restaurant Brands International stock trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol QSR. 

Tim Hortons stock symbol and history 

The company’s first initial public offering (IPO) took place in 2006 when the company went public under Tim Hortons stock ticker THI. However, since being acquired by Restaurant Brands International, Tim Hortons trades under the RBI brand on the Toronto Stock Exchange (and NYSE) under the stock symbol QSR.

Step-by-step process on how and where to buy Tim Hortons stock

Tim Hortons is a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International (TSX: QSR), which is a publicly-traded company. This means you can buy QSR stock through a broker. To do so, you can take the following simple steps:

Step 1: Choose a broker

To buy Restaurant Brands International stock online, you’ll need a brokerage account. While several platforms are available, the one that suits you will depend on your investment style (long-term buy-and-hold strategy or active day trading) and needs (e.g., whether you want to trade more advanced financial products such as options). When assessing brokers, consider the following features:

• Fees: Brokerage fees are a type of fee brokers charge to execute your transactions or provide specialized services. Fortunately, today, the vast majority of online brokers offer commission-free stock and exchange-traded funds (ETF) trading;
• Security: Pick a trustworthy broker by ensuring it is fully licensed by state regulatory authorities as well as FINRA and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
• Trading tools: Active traders may prefer brokerage accounts with all the bells and whistles. Some brokers offer fully customizable platforms with comprehensive analysis tools or access to additional data for an extra cost. If such additions are unnecessary for your purposes, avoid paying extra for them. It’s typically a good idea to look for a user-friendly platform with a competitive fee structure if you are new to stock trading. A dedicated section with investing tips and tricks is a bonus;
• Access to market data: You should search for a platform that allows access to solid market research and reporting tools to help you trade confidently with updated data;
• Fractional stock trading: Fractional shares allow investors to buy stock or ETFs by the dollar amount instead of the number of shares. This is helpful for investors who don’t have unlimited capital but want to build a diversified portfolio or are looking to set up a dollar-cost averaging strategy. 

Where can I buy Tim Hortons stock?

Thanks to various online brokers, access to the stock market has never been more accessible as well as affordable. However, choosing the right broker optimized for your needs (investing goals, educational tools, trading style) is critical for a stress-free trading experience. 

To securely invest in Tim Hortons and buy QSR stock, consider Interactive Brokers (IBKR), which offers:

• Commission-free stock trading;
• Global stock-trading on 90+ market centers;
• Fractional shares available;
• Extra income on fully paid shares;
• Lowest financing rates for margin accounts in the industry;
• No account minimum. 

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• Highly trusted multi-asset broker with clients in over 200 countries

• Trade on 150 markets globally from a single platform (stocks, ETFs, futures, currencies, crypto & more)

• Low commissions starting at $0 with no platform fees or account minimums

• Easily fund your account and trade assets in 26 currencies

• IBKR pays up to 4.58% interest on cash balances of $10k or more

Up to 4.58% interest on balance*

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Step 2: Fund your account

Once you have decided on a broker, it’s time to fund your account. Remember, it can sometimes take up to three days for the money to reach your account.

Step 3: Research the company 

Understanding a company’s financial strength is the most crucial step in analyzing a stock. So start your research by getting an overview of the company, including its strengths and weaknesses, primary competitors, industry outlook, and future prospects. 

Fortunately, as a publicly traded company, Restaurant Brands International’s quarterly (form 10-K) and annual (form 10-K) earning reports, SEC filings, founders’ letters, product and business updates, as well as recent news releases can be accessed directly from its investor relations section. 

After weighing both the expected risks and rewards, decide whether you want QSR stock as part of your investment portfolio.

Step 4: Decide how much you want to invest

Now that you’ve decided to invest in Tim Hortons, you’ll need to determine how much you want to invest.

The amount of money you invest depends on the stock price and the number of shares you want to buy. If the share price of a stock you’re interested in is financially out of reach, you can also explore fractional shares. Fractional shares allow you to purchase shares on the dollar amount you’re comfortable with, so you may end up with less than a whole share, a whole share, or more than a whole share.

Because investing can have unpredictable returns, it’s essential only to invest what you can afford to lose and to be mindful of your risk appetite.

Step 5: Place your order and buy Tim Hortons stock

Once you decide on the number of shares or the dollar amount you’d like to purchase, you can place your order. If you’re working with an advisor, tell them you’d like to buy Restaurant Brands International stock and how much you can invest, and they’ll do it for you. If using a brokerage account, simply log in and enter the ticker QSR in the search bar. 

There are a few different execution options to choose from, including:

• Market order: A market order is an order to buy the stock at the current market price that is generally executed immediately (subject to availability);
• Limit order: A limit order is processed once the stock reaches your specified price. For example, imagine you want to buy QSR at $70 or lower. You would then set the limit price at $70, and the order will only execute when the stock reaches the set price or lower;
• Options contract: Options speculation allows for leveraged positions in a security at a fraction of the cost of the underlying asset. A call option allows the trader to profit if the price of the stock increases. Conversly, a put option enables them to profit if the stock price declines. Remember, though, that derivative instruments can only be traded on a margin account, which typically has higher minimum balance requirements than standard brokerage accounts. 

Step 6: Monitor your investment

You want to keep sporadically inspecting the company’s performance by checking the same annual and quarterly reports you used to conduct your preliminary research.

So, while “set it and forget it” is a solid strategy for a diversified portfolio of ETFs, for single stocks like QSR, investors should keep a close watch on press releases, company health indicators such as revenue and net income, foodservice industry performance (and factors that can influence it, e.g., a pandemic) as well as overall economic conditions. Then, depending on your financial goals, use that knowledge to reassess whether it’s best to hold onto the stock or sell it. 

You may also want to track the performance of similar stocks in the industry for comparisons, such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, Yum! Brands, Domino’s (NYSE: DPZ), or Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ: DNUT). 

Tim Hortons stock price

Historically, since Tim Hortons IPO in 2006, investors could purchase shares in Tim Hortons directly. However, the company has since been acquired by Restaurant Brands International (RBI) and is now trading under the stock symbol QSR on Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Should I buy Tim Hortons stock?

Besides looking at the company’s fundamentals, you can use technical analysis to evaluate the stock and identify trading opportunities in price trends and patterns seen on charts. 

This gauge displays a real-time technical analysis overview for your specified timeframe. It can be a valuable technical analysis tool for many traders by simplifying trading decisions by demonstrating the real-time recommendations of popular technical indicators such as moving averages and oscillators.  

Disclaimer: TradingView does not recommend trading financial instruments based exclusively on the advice of the Technical Rating indicator. These recommendations cannot predict future movements and are meant as assistance for spotting potentially favorable buy/sell conditions if this is consistent with their strategy.

Common mistakes to avoid when investing in stocks

Mistakes are expected when investing in stocks but can be avoided if you recognize them. For an in-depth guide on investing mistakes, we have compiled a list of 17 common mistakes and tips for preventing them. But, for now, let’s list some of the most typical ones:

1. Not performing your due diligence on the stock;
2. Having unclear financial goals;
3. Attempting to time the market;
4. Failing to diversify;
5. Letting your emotions rule the investment decision-making process.

How to sell Tim Hortons stock?

You can sell QSR if you see the company performing differently than expected or after reaching your desired financial goal.

If you’re working with an advisor, they can create a sale order for you. However, if you have your own broker account, simply log on, navigate to the stock’s detail page, input the number of shares or dollar amount you want to offload, and tap sell.

Pros and cons of buying Tim Hortons stock

So, now that we’re familiar with Tim Hortons’ parent Restaurant Brands International, and how to buy its stock, let’s explore both the pros and cons of investing in it.

Pros

• Diversified business: Tim Hortons’ parent RBI is a diversified company, operating four brands, each offering a different menu. This means the company can keep making money even if tastes change;
• Edge against the competition: Because RBI is such a diversified company, it can tap into different markets and gather a broad segment of the client base;
• Affordable product: This allows RBI to profit in poor economic conditions with lessened purchasing power;
• Pays a dividend: RBI is a dividend stock with an annual dividend yield of 2.82% as of December 2023.

Cons

• Fierce competition: The RBI’s business is well diversified, but the restaurant market is still heavily oversaturated and can lead to weak traffic. In addition, brands under RBI do not have the same level of global recognition, particularly compared to industry heavyweights such as Starbucks or McDonald’s;
• Adverse macroeconomic conditions: Inflation and labor shortage concerns. 

In conclusion

Tim Hortons, along with Burger King, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs, is a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International, one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant companies, operating over 28,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. 

COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine have created harsh macroeconomic conditions for RBI due to foreign exchange headwinds and climbing interest rates. That said, higher prices domestically have not scared away the company’s customer base. In fact, fast-food companies across the sector have experienced intensified demand among budget-conscious consumers, beating out fast-casual dining options.

For now, at least, it seems that value-oriented restaurant chains are likely to perform well over the long term. 

Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk. 

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