Wendy's is expanding into Europe finally

Wendy’s (WEN) has thousands of restaurants in the U.S., but none in Europe and only 530-plus in countries such as Japan and Mexico.

That’s about to change. Wendy’s CEO Todd Penegor told analysts at its investor day on Friday it will be debut in Europe, finally, within the next 12-18 months. The European openings are part of Penegor’s new efforts to jumpstart growth, which also includes a major push into breakfast in 2020.

Penegor also delivered upbeat guidance for the third quarter, saying North America same-store sales gained about 4.4% due to momentum behind spicy chicken nuggets.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

• SmileDirect co-founder: here’s what life will look like post IPO

• Marriott CEO: this is what we were working on next

• SoFi’s CEO offers up this great advice to WeWork

• Starbucks CEO on what China has in store for the coffee giant

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.