Longbow analyst Alton Stump upgraded Restaurant Brands to Neutral from Underperform. After calls with U.S. Burger King franchisees, the analyst believes same-store sales for Restaurant Brands' Burger King concept were up 4.5%-5.0% in Q3 ahead of his prior estimate of 2.0% growth and consensus at up 3.4%. The launch of Burger King's Impossible Whopper in mid-August drove a 500-600 basis point lift to same-store sales over the last six weeks, including 10%-15% growth in Whopper sales, Stump tells investors in a research note. He believes "significantly better than expected" comp performance from Burger King will be viewed positively by investors.