Goldman Sachs Likes These Restaurants Favorites...

In the restaurant sector, in addition to adding Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) to its Conviction Buy List, Goldman Sachs said McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) and Tim Hortons (NYSE: THI) are their favorite long ideas for 2012.

On McDonald's, the firm said it is "firmly entrenched in a positive feedback loop that will result in further market share gains and margin expansion." Goldman likes the risk/reward and dividend yield on Darden and expects mid-high-teens returns at Tim Hortons.

Stocks in the group the firm is recommending to "Sell" include: Cheesecake Factory (Nasdaq: CAKE), Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) and Wendy's (NYSE: WEN).

Goldman said Cheesecake Factory's best growth is behind it. They said Yum! is too exposed to a slowing Chinese economy and said structural share laggard Wendy's may need to re-base financial targets.

Dunkin' Brands (Nasdaq: DNKN) was upgraded from Sell to Neutral today.

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