McDonald’s, RBI, Wendy’s among best-performing stocksMcDonald’s, RBI, Wendy’s among best-performing stocks

This post is part of the On the Margin blog.

So far, 2017 hasn’t been a good year for restaurant stocks, unless you’re a big, highly franchised, traditional quick-service chain.

Led by Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International Inc., as well as the giant McDonald’s Corp., large chains represented five of the 10 best-performing restaurant stocks on Wall Street. Another top performer, Arcos Dorados Holdings, is McDonald’s franchisee in Latin America.

Struggling casual-dining operators dominate the year’s biggest decliners. Seven of the 10 weakest restaurant stocks so far this year are in the casual-dining segment.

To be sure, the performances of the stocks represent the performances of the companies. Same-store sales at fast-food resta...