Nomura Securities analyst Mark Kalinowski reiterated a Buy rating and boosted his price target on Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) to $92.00 (from $82.00) following its Q1 beat driven by KFC china.

Kalinowski commented, "After Wednesday's market close, YUM! Brands (YUM US; Buy) reported Q1 EPS of $0.95, easily surpassing our $0.81 forecast and the Consensus Metrix number of $0.83. We attribute the earnings upside to better-than-expected samestore sales from KFC China (+12%). While Pizza Hut China was weak (-12%), as anticipated, the KFC China strength -- the company cites "an outstanding Chinese New Year bucket promotion" -- drove the overall Q1 China same-store sales number to +6%, meaningfully above our +1% forecast and the Consensus Metrix figure of +2%. As of this writing, YUM shares are up by about +3.8% in aftermarket trading. We raise our target price for YUM to $92 and maintain our Buy rating."

The firm lifted FY16E EPS from $3.48 to$3.65 and FY17E EPS from $4.00 to $4.20.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Yum! Brands click here. For more ratings news on Yum! Brands click here.

Shares of Yum! Brands closed at $82.53 yesterday.