Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 584,204 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 13,900 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of McDonald’s worth $157,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCD. Stableford Capital II LLC raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 16.8% in the second quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 3,467 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. CORDA Investment Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 5.4% in the second quarter. CORDA Investment Management LLC. now owns 89,124 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $24,091,000 after acquiring an additional 4,571 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 1.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 197,122 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $53,284,000 after acquiring an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Edge Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.6% in the second quarter. Edge Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,312 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $6,572,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 39.4% in the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 169,676 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $45,865,000 after purchasing an additional 47,943 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $305.00 price objective on McDonald’s in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on McDonald’s from $385.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of McDonald’s to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.35.
Get Our Latest Research Report on MCD McDonald’s Trading Down 0.1% Shares of NYSE MCD opened at $255.53 on Wednesday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $254.28 and a 12 month high of $341.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $269.13 and a 200-day moving average of $288.10.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. McDonald’s’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.87 earnings per share for the current year.
McDonald’s Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 60.44%.
Key Headlines Impacting McDonald’s Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: A slower pace of restaurant expansion could help McDonald’s protect returns on new locations as construction costs rise and consumers remain price-sensitive. More disciplined development may support margins and capital efficiency. Can MCD’s Slower Expansion Pace Help Protect New-Restaurant Returns? Positive Sentiment: One Milwaukee franchisee reported double-digit sales growth, attributing the improvement to local execution and operating initiatives. While anecdotal, the report suggests individual operators can still outperform despite broader U.S. sales concerns. McDonald’s franchisee sales are up Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s was highlighted as a defensive restaurant stock ahead of inflation data and a Federal Reserve decision, reflecting the company’s resilient brand, franchised business model and dividend profile. Defensive stocks to watch Neutral Sentiment: CEO commentary indicates that families and other unexpected customer groups are increasingly turning to Happy Meals, prompting McDonald’s to reassess its strategy. The potential traffic opportunity is constructive, but the article does not provide quantified sales guidance. McDonald’s CEO on Happy Meals Neutral Sentiment: A planned U.K. interactive restaurant where customers can make their own burgers could generate publicity and test new customer experiences, but its financial impact is likely limited in the near term. New U.K. McDonald’s store Negative Sentiment: Coverage continues to emphasize slowing U.S. sales and execution missteps, reinforcing concerns that McDonald’s may be losing momentum versus other franchised restaurant operators. Why franchise models are winning Negative Sentiment: McDonald’s deleted a viral social-media post involving a controversial intern claim. Although unlikely to affect fundamentals, the incident creates avoidable reputational and communications risk. McDonald’s deletes viral post McDonald’s Company Profile (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation is a global quick-service restaurant company that operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald’s brand. Its restaurants serve a menu that includes hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, breakfast items, desserts, salads, beverages and coffee. Offerings vary by market, and many locations provide drive-thru service, delivery and digital ordering through the McDonald’s mobile app.
The company operates through a heavily franchised business model, with restaurants owned and operated by independent franchisees, affiliates and the company itself.
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Key Takeaways McDonald's delayed its 50,000-restaurant target to 2028 amid higher costs and consumer pressure.MCD still plans about 2,600 gross openings in 2026, its fastest restaurant growth period ever.McDonald's says new openings support growth, while return quality remains central to development. McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) has pushed its target of reaching 50,000 restaurants globally to 2028 from the end of 2027, citing higher development costs and a pressured consumer environment. The adjustment follows a review of its restaurant pipeline and signals a more measured approach to expansion.
The decision reinforces McDonald’s established focus on investment returns. The company adjusted its opening pace to support appropriate returns on new locations, emphasizing the quality of development alongside the number of openings. It continues to see significant opportunities to expand its footprint despite the revised schedule.
Despite the adjustment, McDonald’s said it remains in the fastest period of restaurant growth in its history. The company remains on track to open approximately 2,600 gross restaurants in 2026. New openings are contributing to growth, with second-quarter systemwide sales increasing 4% year over year in constant currency.
For McDonald’s, moderating expansion could help preserve the financial appeal of new locations as investment costs rise. The longer timeline provides flexibility to pursue growth at a pace consistent with its return objectives. This supports a disciplined approach to development, with new-restaurant performance remaining the key indicator of success.
Key Competitors Taking Different Paths on Unit GrowthStarbucks Corporation (SBUX - Free Report) is taking a more selective approach to coffeehouse development as it works to build a stronger store base. Management said every new coffeehouse must “earn its place,” while net new company-operated unit growth in North America may remain modest through fiscal 2027. Starbucks is also gaining greater visibility into underperforming locations that could be closed while rebuilding its U.S. development pipeline and directing near-term resources toward coffeehouse uplifts, where early results are showing transaction gains. International markets are expected to remain a meaningful contributor to unit growth, supporting the company’s fiscal 2026 target of approximately 600-650 net new coffeehouses.
Dutch Bros Inc. (BROS - Free Report) continues to pursue a faster unit expansion strategy, supported by strong new-shop productivity and a growing development pipeline. The company opened 48 system shops in the second quarter and has approximately 90% of the pipeline needed to reach 2,029 shops by 2029. Management said new-shop productivity remained strong alongside rising systemwide AUVs, while several newer markets were annualizing above expectations. Company-operated shop contribution margin reached approximately 31% in the second quarter, although higher coffee and occupancy costs are expected to pressure adjusted EBITDA margin in 2026. With at least 185 system shop openings expected this year, Dutch Bros’ approach contrasts with MCD’s more measured expansion pace, highlighting the importance of new-store productivity and disciplined development as restaurant operators balance growth with attractive returns.
MCD’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of McDonald’s have declined 18.3% over the past year compared with the industry’s fall of 7.5%.
MCD’s One-Year Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, MCD trades at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 6.22, above the industry’s average of 3.23.
MCD’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MCD’s 2026 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year rise of 5.5%. The EPS estimates for 2026 have declined in the past 30 days.
EPS Trend of MCD Stock
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD’s Zacks RankMCD stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 27,036.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 302,891,546 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 301,775,375 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 42.80% of McDonald’s worth $81,874,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new position in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in McDonald’s during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Trending Headlines about McDonald’s Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: Valuation may attract contrarian buyers: McDonald’s is trading at roughly 19.15 times earnings, below the restaurant industry’s average multiple. Analysts point to global expansion, digital initiatives and new product efforts as possible catalysts for a recovery. McDonald’s Trades at 19.15X P/E: Is This a Discounted Opportunity? Positive Sentiment: Promotional activity could support traffic: McDonald’s is bringing back popular menu items, launching a Texas-themed meal with collectible cups and promoting limited-time products. These campaigns may encourage visits and improve near-term sales, though their financial impact is unproven. McDonald’s launches exclusive state-themed meal Neutral Sentiment: Brand visibility remains high: Coverage of McDonald’s breakfast offerings, Grimace appearances, collectible merchandise and Warren Buffett’s long-standing affinity for the brand reinforces consumer awareness but is unlikely to materially change earnings expectations. The best McDonald’s breakfast sandwich isn’t on the menu Negative Sentiment: U.S. consumer weakness is the main concern: Reports describe consumer-focused stocks, including McDonald’s, as signaling softer spending in middle America. Articles also highlight customers shifting to competing fast-food chains, increasing pressure on traffic and comparable sales. Wall Street worried about consumer stocks Negative Sentiment: Value positioning remains problematic: Coverage says McDonald’s $3 value offering has not fully delivered for customers or the company, raising concerns about affordability, franchisee economics and the effectiveness of discounting. Why you can’t find McDonald’s $3 value menu McDonald’s Stock Performance MCD stock opened at $255.69 on Monday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $255.49 and a 1 year high of $341.75. The firm has a market cap of $180.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $269.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $289.12. McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 572.06% and a net margin of 31.72%.McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.87 EPS for the current year.
McDonald’s Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 60.44%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $305.00 price target on McDonald’s in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler set a $286.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Evercore set a $320.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.35.
View Our Latest Analysis on MCD
Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s In other news, insider Joseph Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total value of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,198,930.88. This represents a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.
McDonald’s Profile (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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McDonald's sales growth has slowed. One franchisee says his stores are up double digits — and he credits these 3 things. As told to You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Robert Pyles bought his first McDonald's in 1998. Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Robert Pyles, a pastor and McDonald's franchisee in Milwaukee. McDonald's reported its slowest US sales growth in over a year in its quarterly earnings report last month. Pyles said sales at his seven restaurants are growing. This story has been edited for length and clarity.
I bought my first McDonald's in 1998.
I was in the military for 15 years and started working part-time at McDonald's during that time as a crew member, later becoming a shift manager. Then I had the opportunity to get into the owner-operator program.
I had to go through all the courses, attend Hamburger University, and pass other tests to make sure you're ready, because it's a large investment and a lot of time. They want to make sure that they have the right person. You learn scheduling, inventory, shift control — a lot of things I knew from working there. When you're done with this training, you'll know everything from top to bottom.
After I opened my first store in Milwaukee, we had rapid growth. We had 23 locations and over a thousand employees at one time. Right now, we have seven McDonald's, which is the right size for our organization.
I love McDonald's. I loved it then; I love it now. I never thought I could be an owner before I did it. It's been a great ride. For my stores, sales are up double digits since last year. In addition to having a good location, here's what I think makes stores successful.
Create good systems and stick to themI'm 60 now, and we're doing things a lot differently than when I started. When you're young, you can just go off of energy. Now we are really leaning on systems.
We do everything the same way in each store. We have systems for meetings, hiring, training, food costs, service, and more. There's a step-by-step process for each system, so even if employees change, the process remains in place.
Any time something goes wrong, the first thing we ask is, "What system was broken? Did we follow the system?" Because the system should be there to catch it.
If you have more than a few stores, you can't be at each one as often as you should be. You've got to rely on the systems and communication even more. We also tweak our systems when we need to.
Hire well and take care of your employeesThere are some things I can train an employee on, and there are some things I cannot. I can't train you to be nice. I can't train you to smile. You want to hire people who are nice in the interview.
McDonald's customers expect quick service, so we've got to be fast. We can train you on our systems, which are built for speed. The speed is going to come. You also have to constantly train. We do training every week. You've got to keep investing in that training to keep the people motivated.
You've got to make sure employees are entering an environment where they can be successful. You have to make them feel good about coming to work. A lot of our employees have been around 15 or 20 years, since they were 17 or 18.
We encourage employees to seek promotions and growth. We don't do longevity raises; we do performance raises. You could be here for three or four months and make more than a person who's been here for four years. It's by responsibility and ownership you want to take. The sky's the limit.
We've started programs to support our employees, too. I noticed some managers didn't have cars. I started a program to help finance cars for our managers. City rents are so high. I bought property so I could rent out nice, affordable housing to my employees.
I've had the ability to change people's economic status and help develop them. The exciting part for me is seeing folks come in, grow, and go out to start their own businesses. Some have become nurses or doctors. Seeing that has been so rewarding. When I see employees go from minimum wage to owning their own home, that's when I cry.
Owners have to be close to their storesYou have to be hands-on. I go into the stores pretty much every day. I'm in one of them every day, and normally two or three. They're all close together.
You have to know what's going on in your stores. You might think one thing is going on, and it's actually a totally different thing. That's something that I experience just by walking in. I don't have to look at the numbers. I can look at how the store's moving to see what condition it's in.
With the right systems in place, stores can run well, but your presence and input help polish them. For employees, there's nothing like knowing they've got your support. The stores run at a different level when I walk in. My employees like showing off their work and what they've done.
I don't believe you can run a McDonald's without being personally involved. It doesn't work.
What I've learned is that I need to be better today than I was yesterday. I'm my only competition. It also takes pressure off my employees. Just get five seconds better.
If we get better every day, then three months down the road, you'll see the difference. If you ask me what the secret sauce is, it's just getting better every day.
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Kelsey Vlamis You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Kelsey is a senior reporter for Business Insider, where she covers business and tech news as well as stories about travel, luxury, and consulting.Her feature story "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as well as honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. It was also included on Longreads' and Pocket's best of 2022 lists. She has also received an American Journalism Online Award for her coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and other outlets to discuss her work. She previously worked on the world news desk at the BBC in London and received a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.Popular storiesDisaster on Denali: Inside a 1,000-foot fall on America's highest peakThrifting is more popular than ever. It's also never been worse.Rolex wouldn't service the vintage watch my mom inherited. Watchmakers say it happens all the time.A tiny, invasive bug and the climate crisis are changing how guitars are made, and shifting the course of music historyThe tourism free-for-all is overGovernment-run boarding schools were founded to 'civilize' Native Americans. Hundreds of dead children remain buried in the schoolyard graves.Meet the Texas minister who helps fly dozens of women to New Mexico every month to get abortionsPeople are flocking to Colorado for the great outdoors, but the air pollution is so bad, it's forcing many to stay insideInside Kabul: An aid worker reveals the devastating chaos that erupted during the US exit from Afghanistan
Has your search for a new income-generating holding led you to McDonald's (MCD -1.52%) yet? Its forward-looking dividend yield of 2.9% is certainly respectable enough, although there's no denying you could find better.
Nevertheless, if your portfolio needs more reliable cash flow or if you're just looking for a bargain, stepping into a long-term position in this fast-food restaurant chain's stock while it's down 24% from its February peak could be a brilliant decision.
Here are the three biggest reasons why.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Its business is resilient Despite this year's disappointing sales growth that caused the pullback from February's high, the fast-food restaurant business, and McDonald's in particular, are resilient. People always need to eat, and always need convenient value. With an industry-leading 46,028 locations peppered all over the planet, McDonald's is usually people's first and best option.
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It's also worth adding that this year's sales headwind isn't anything the company hasn't faced before, and either navigated around or pushed through. That's not apt to be different this time around.
As CFO Ian Borden believably commented during the second-quarter earnings conference call: "We're acting with urgency to improve our baseline guest traffic and put the U.S. business in a stronger position as we exit 2026."
2. The company can consistently fund its dividend payment (and its growth) Most investors understand that McDonald's is a franchise. What most investors may not fully appreciate is how this franchise is so different from almost any other.
The organization's top profit center isn't selling food. It's not even royalties for the use of its well-known brand name. It's rent. McDonald's owns most of the buildings its franchisees operate out of -- and charges them ever-rising market-based rent rates regardless of how well that location is performing -- so the parent company's cash flow is secured.
If you want specific numbers, about 95% of the chain's restaurants are franchises. While more than 60% of the total revenue the company collected from these operators year to date is rent, less than 40% of it is royalty payments.
3. It's on the verge of becoming a Dividend King Finally, as was noted, this company's per-share dividend has grown every year since 1976. It hasn't announced its next consecutive payment increase, but it usually makes this announcement in October. Look for the next one to be made next month.
The upcoming announcement will be different than all the others up until this point, however. The next one will mark the 50th consecutive annual dividend payment growth, the milestone that will officially qualify McDonald's as a Dividend King. Although this technically doesn't change anything about the stock's value, it does take its stature as an income investment up a notch, bolstering the ticker's perceived value.
The smart money on Wall Street is more worried about the GOP’s midterm prospects than the average investor — and you can partly thank Home Depot and McDonald’s, On The Money has learned.
The conventional wisdom — whether you’re consulting Kalshi and Polymarket, the talking heads on financial TV or the day traders on Reddit — is that the Democrats will win the House while the Senate is still largely a toss-up; despite decent polling numbers for Dems running far left loons in Texas and Michigan will likely allow the GOP to keep the upper chamber.
But the high-paid traders on Wall Street — who do actual homework before placing their massive bets — see more risk. In particular, they have noticed how consumer-focused stocks are getting crushed, signaling weaker economic trends in middle America — and warning signs about President Trump’s working-class base.
The conventional wisdom — whether you’re consulting Kalshi and Polymarket, the talking heads on financial TV or the day traders on Reddit — is that the Democrats will win the House while the Senate is still largely a toss-up. Donald Pearsall / NY Post Design True, the Dems are embracing socialism with oddball candidates at the fringes. DSA types led by our very own Mayor Zohran Mamdani have gained traction in NYC, but it’s a harder sell in the aforementioned Texas and Michigan where Dems elected screwballs like and Abdul El-Sayed.
Moreover, the major indices — Nasdaq, Dow and S&P — are all at record levels. Employment and GDP portray a strong economy. People are working and wages seem to be up. Inflation, even with the Iran conflict juicing oil and gas prices, is relatively in check.
That’s what the optimists argue, at least. But delve deeper into the data and the trend isn’t necessarily the GOP’s friend.
First, top-line numbers often mask the real economy. Joe Biden gave us 9% inflation at one point. Under President Trump it’s between 3.2% and 3.4%. But those numbers only measure the rate of change. The problem is that prices continue to go up, testing new and ever more painful heights.
Trump’s tariff agenda hasn’t helped, and it’s one reason inflation remains above the Fed’s long-held 2% target. Chairman Kevin Warsh can’t cut short-term rates — to do so would signal to the bond market that he’s a dove and likely spike the yield on the all-important 10-year Treasury where consumer loans are priced.
Dems are embracing socialism with oddball candidates at the fringes, like Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. REUTERS The 10-year is already under pressure from inflation and competition for capital for the AI infrastructure buildout, which has provoked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to intervene, buying Treasurys to suppress yields (which move in the opposite direction of prices).
That is just the beginning. Larry McDonald from the Bear Traps Report points to two charts that speak directly to how the average American consumer feels about the economy, as opposed to speculators jumping on the AI bandwagon that is powering the major indices.
McDonald’s and Home Depot have underperformed the S&P for more than a year, a strong indication that working-class consumers are cutting back because of rising prices and tepid wage growth. Getty Images The first is a stock chart for Home Depot, a bellwether for the middle-class housing market. The second is for McDonald’s. Both have underperformed the S&P for more than a year, a strong indication that working-class consumers are cutting back because of rising prices and tepid wage growth.
“These charts are painting an ugly picture for Trump and the Republicans,” McDonald tells On The Money. “These are consumer-facing stocks, not diluted by big tech names that are pumping indices.”
Of course, I can find plenty of naysayers. Bob Sloan of S3 Partners, a data firm that tracks long and short interest in stocks, says the negative bets on McDonald’s, Home Depot and other US consumer discretionary stocks he tracks are pulling back from a peak of 10.6% in July to 10% this week (Disclosure: Bob is my partner on the Risk and Return Podcast).
McDonald’s, in fact, hit a 10-year high in short interest in July before it began pulling back, signaling a weakening of bearish sentiment, S3’s data shows IMHO, Trump voters have lots of reasons to turn out for the GOP given the lefty surge of the Democrats.
Still, it seems that some of the savviest players on Wall Street are getting more worried about the price of houses and burgers. The GOP and investors alike should take note.
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for McDonald's (MCD - Free Report) . Shares have lost about 4.8% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.
But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is McDonald's due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent drivers for McDonald's Corporation before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late.
McDonald's Q2 Earnings Beat on Franchised Margins, Sales MissMcDonald's reported second-quarter 2026 results, wherein earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but revenues missed the same.
McDonald's reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.38, up 6% year over year, and beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.32 by 1.8%. Higher sales-driven franchised margins and other operating income supported the bottom line.
Revenues increased 4% year over year to $7.10 billion but missed the consensus mark of $7.14 billion by 0.5%. Global comparable sales rose with positive growth across all three operating segments.
MCD Posts Positive Comparable Sales Across SegmentsGlobal comparable sales increased 1.3% compared with 3.8% growth in the prior-year quarter. The United States recorded a 0.8% increase, driven by positive average check growth, including favorable product mix, partly offset by lower comparable guest counts.
International Operated Markets comparable sales rose 1.5%. Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom led the improvement, while France remained a drag. International Developmental Licensed Markets advanced 1.9%, supported by Japan and positive results across all geographic regions, partly offset by weakness in China.
McDonald’s Systemwide Sales Benefit From ScaleGlobal systemwide sales increased 5%, or 4% in constant currencies, to $37 billion. U.S. systemwide sales rose 2%, while International Operated Markets and International Developmental Licensed Markets increased 6% and 8%, respectively.
Loyalty remained an important demand driver. Across 70 loyalty markets, trailing 12-month systemwide sales to loyalty members increased more than 20% to $40 billion. The number of 90-day active loyalty users rose 13% to nearly 220 million at quarter-end.
MCD’s Q2 Revenue Growth Reflects Franchised StrengthRevenues from franchised restaurants increased 4% to $4.39 billion. U.S. franchised revenues rose 2%, International Operated Markets gained 5%, and International Developmental Licensed Markets and Corporate advanced 9%.
Sales from company-owned and operated restaurants increased 3% to $2.53 billion. U.S. sales declined 1%, while International Operated Markets rose 3%. Other revenues increased 6% to $182 million, reflecting contributions from technology-related fees and brand licensing arrangements.
McDonald’s Margins Rise Despite U.S. Cost PressureFranchised restaurant margins increased 4.3% to $3.71 billion and represented roughly 90% of total restaurant margin dollars. Growth reflected stronger sales across all segments and favorable currency translation in the international businesses.
Company-owned and operated restaurant margins rose 1.8% to $387 million. U.S. margins declined 6% to $91 million due primarily to ongoing inflationary cost pressures. International Operated Markets margins increased 3% to $285 million, as sales growth and currency benefits were partly offset by inflation.
MCD’s Operating Income Advances as SG&A ClimbsOperating income increased 3% to $3.34 billion, or 2% in constant currencies. Results included $52 million in pre-tax charges, primarily related to restructuring under the Accelerating the Organization initiative. Excluding current- and prior-year charges, operating income increased 4%.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 16.7% to $817 million. The rise primarily reflected higher employee costs, including incentive-based compensation, and expenses associated with the 2026 Worldwide Owner/Operator convention. Other operating income totaled $37 million compared with an expense of $29 million a year earlier, aided by higher gains on restaurant sales and excess properties.
MCD Maintains 2026 Expansion and Margin OutlookMcDonald’s expects net restaurant expansion to contribute about 2.5% to 2026 systemwide sales growth in constant currencies. The company continues to project a full-year operating margin in the mid-to-high 40% range and SG&A expenses of roughly 2.2% of systemwide sales.
Capital expenditures are expected between $3.7 billion and $3.9 billion. McDonald’s plans to open approximately 2,600 restaurants during 2026, generating about 2,100 net additions. Interest expense is projected to increase 4-6%, while the full-year effective tax rate is expected between 21% and 23%.
How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in estimates revision.
VGM ScoresAt this time, McDonald's has a average Growth Score of C, though it is lagging a lot on the Momentum Score front with an F. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock has a score of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy.
Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.
OutlookEstimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Interestingly, McDonald's has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.
Performance of an Industry PlayerMcDonald's is part of the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry. Over the past month, Cheesecake Factory (CAKE - Free Report) , a stock from the same industry, has gained 3.1%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended June 2026 more than a month ago.
Cheesecake Factory reported revenues of $1.03 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +7.7%. EPS of $1.44 for the same period compares with $1.16 a year ago.
For the current quarter, Cheesecake Factory is expected to post earnings of $0.87 per share, indicating a change of +27.9% from the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +5.3% over the last 30 days.
The overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions translate into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for Cheesecake Factory. Also, the stock has a VGM Score of A.
McDonald's shares have cratered to levels not seen in over a year, and a contrarian case is quietly building that the selloff has gone too far. Whether the golden arches reward patient buyers or keep sliding depends on a handful…
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McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD | MCD Price Prediction) is trading near a 52-week low after a rough 2026, and I think the setup looks contrarian. Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for McDonald’s is $316.21, implying 21.04% upside from the current price of $261.10.
The recommendation is buy at a high confidence level of 90%. In plain language, the model views this drawdown as a valuation reset in a durable franchise cash machine.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $261.10 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $316.21 Upside 21.04% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% How MCD Landed Near the 52-Week Low Shares are down 12.89% year to date and 14.09% over the past year, with the 52-week range running from $259.12 to $335.18. The August 4 Q2 earnings report did the damage.
McDonald’s reported EPS of $3.38 on revenue of $7.10 billion, but global comps decelerated to 1.3% and U.S. comps grew just 0.8%. CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts, “We don’t have a strategy problem. We simply didn’t execute at the level we needed to in the second quarter.” New U.S. President Skye Anderson took over the day of the call.
Why Bulls See a Breakout Above $340 The bull case rests on execution snapping back. Kempczinski said “When we’re on our game, no one can beat us” and expects the U.S. marketing calendar fully back to where it needs to be in 2027.
Loyalty is quietly compounding: 220 million 90-day active users driving $40 billion+ in trailing systemwide sales. A new beverage platform is lifting average check by roughly 50% versus the full-day average. If comps re-accelerate, our bull scenario points to $344, a total return of 31.68%.
Risks Worth Watching The bear worry is that U.S. traffic stays negative. July comps were slightly negative, France remains a laggard, and China is soft. Analysts have taken down estimates: the 2027 EPS consensus fell from $14.220 ninety days ago to $13.978.
Counterfactually, the SG&A pressure that pinched Q2 was driven by the operator convention and elevated employee costs, both understandable given the McDonald’s Next launch and the U.S. leadership handoff. Our bear scenario still lands at $291.31, an 11.51% gain including the $7.44 dividend.
How McDonald’s Compares to Yum and Chipotle Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) is the cleanest global QSR comp. At a market cap of $41.32 billion, Yum posted Q2 EPS of $1.62 with Taco Bell same-store sales up 7%, meaningfully hotter than McDonald’s 0.8% U.S. comp. That gap tells me McDonald’s has room to reclaim share.
Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) is the growth counterpoint. Chipotle grew Q2 revenue 9.3% to $3.35 billion, but restaurant-level margin compressed to 25.2% from 27.4%. McDonald’s year-to-date adjusted operating margin of 46.9% and its franchise-heavy model produce far more free cash per dollar of sales. On that basis, our $316 target looks reasonable rather than aggressive.
McDonald’s Price Prediction 2026-2030 My take: the 24/7 Wall St. price target of $316.21 is a buy with 90% confidence, and the key factor tipping the scale is that estimates have already come down while the dividend, buyback, and loyalty flywheel keep humming.
McDonald’s has raised its payout for close to five decades, and we ranked our favorite names with that kind of streak in a free Dividend Kings report. The setup looks constructive if Q3 comps stabilize and October value alignment lands with franchisees. The thesis weakens if U.S. traffic stays negative into 2027 and margin guidance rolls over.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $275.73 2027 $318.72 2028 $360.41 2029 $398.61 2030 $433.55 These projections assume McDonald’s continues executing on McDonald’s Next and reaches 50,000 units by 2028. Significant upside or downside could result from a U.S. traffic reacceleration or a prolonged China slowdown.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Ancora Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 92,225 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 5,901 shares during the quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $24,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 4,008.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,230 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $22,768,000 after purchasing an additional 82,180 shares in the last quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 16.9% in the second quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. now owns 13,859 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,746,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 3,294.5% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 11,779 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,600,000 after purchasing an additional 11,432 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 84.4% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 35,510 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $10,853,000 after purchasing an additional 16,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Sarl grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 64,256 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $19,639,000 after purchasing an additional 6,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Key McDonald’s News Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is bringing back its popular Spicy McNuggets on September 1 and introducing limited-time or exclusive meals. The promotions could attract customers and improve traffic, although their financial impact remains uncertain. McDonald’s (MCD) Stock Plunges to 52-Week Low Despite Spicy McNuggets Comeback Positive Sentiment: Analysts are described as moderately optimistic despite McDonald’s lagging the S&P 500 over the past year. The company’s franchise-heavy model and recurring cash generation may provide longer-term support, while some traditional valuation measures suggest the shares could be relatively inexpensive. Is McDonald’s Stock Underperforming the S&P 500? McDonald’s (MCD) Stock Looks Fairly Priced With Limited Valuation Upside Neutral Sentiment: McDonald’s and Taco Bell have launched new energy drinks close together, signaling an effort to capture afternoon demand in an increasingly crowded beverage category. The initiative could create incremental sales but also raises competitive and marketing risks. McDonald’s and Taco Bell Are Fighting Over Your 3 P.M. Pick-Me-Up — Here’s Who’s Winning Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discuss menu customization, returning fan-favorite items, regional offerings and operational topics such as ice-cream machines and breakfast preparation. These stories may influence customer engagement but provide limited evidence of a material near-term earnings effect. The easy McDonald’s ordering trick for a basic hamburger with extra flavor A Fan-Favorite McDonald’s Menu Item Is Back Negative Sentiment: The most important bearish signal is that MCD recently touched a 52-week low amid declining guest counts. This suggests current promotions are viewed as necessary traffic-recovery measures rather than proof that demand has already stabilized. McDonald’s (MCD) Stock Plunges to 52-Week Low Despite Spicy McNuggets Comeback Insider Activity at McDonald’s In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. The trade was a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In MCD has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $325.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group set a $305.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $322.00 to $319.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.96.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on McDonald’s
McDonald’s Price Performance Shares of NYSE MCD opened at $264.26 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.04. McDonald’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $259.85 and a fifty-two week high of $341.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.41.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.13 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.
McDonald’s Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.44%.
About McDonald’s (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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Key Takeaways McDonald's IOM posted 1.5% comparable sales growth, led by Germany, Australia and the U.K.IDL grew 1.9%, with Japan delivering its 10th straight quarter of positive guest-count growth.Management expects IOM and IDL comparable sales growth to accelerate sequentially in the third quarter. McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) is seeing its international markets provide a relatively steady source of growth despite softer consumer demand across several regions. International Operated Markets (“IOM”) reported 1.5% comparable sales growth in the second quarter of 2026, with Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom leading the performance. After slightly negative comparable sales in April, McDonald’s saw IOM results improve in May and June, moving closer to normalized levels.
Value offerings and menu innovation remain important in maintaining demand. McDonald’s benefited from Every Day Affordable Price menus and meal deals across several IOM markets, while chicken-focused products helped Australia and Germany gain chicken share. In Germany, the company launched a specialty beverage platform in May, adding another avenue for sales growth.
International Developmental Licensed Markets (“IDL”) delivered 1.9% comparable sales growth. McDonald’s Japan business was a key contributor, recording its 10th consecutive quarter of positive comparable guest-count growth. The market’s loyalty platform, launched less than a year ago, has nearly 20 million 90-day active users, with higher visit frequency supporting demand.
The international performance is taking place against a softer consumer environment. QSR traffic across several large markets remained flat to negative, while McDonald’s operations in China tempered IDL growth as the macro and consumer environment remained challenging. France also fell short of McDonald’s expectations, although renewed meal deals and value offerings are being used to improve consumer response.
Management expects comparable sales growth in both IOM and IDL to accelerate sequentially in the third quarter. The outlook provides McDonald’s with a potential source of additional growth, even as consumer conditions remain uneven across international markets.
McDonald’s Competitive LandscapeAs international markets remain an important part of growth strategies, Starbucks Corporation (SBUX - Free Report) and The Wendy’s Company (WEN - Free Report) provide useful comparisons for McDonald’s.
Starbucks delivered a stronger international performance in the third-quarter fiscal 2026. International company-operated comparable sales increased 5.7%, supported by continued strength in Japan and the United Kingdom. The broader international business also recorded its sixth consecutive quarter of positive system-wide comparable sales across 90 markets. Starbucks is placing greater emphasis on international expansion, with new coffeehouse prototypes developed and tested globally to support faster unit growth. Management expects international markets to remain a meaningful contributor to unit growth through fiscal 2027.
Wendy’s international business presents a more uneven picture. International systemwide sales increased 3.4% in the second-quarter fiscal 2026, supported by new restaurant development. However, international same-restaurant sales declined 2.3%, mainly due to a challenging consumer and competitive environment in Canada. Excluding Canada, international sales increased 8.6%, with positive same-restaurant sales. Wendy’s also opened 27 international restaurants during the quarter, indicating that new unit development remains an important source of international growth.
MCD’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesMcDonald’s shares have lost 21.3% in the past six months, underperforming the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry, the broader Retail and Wholesale sector and the S&P 500 index.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
On a forward 12-month basis, MCD trades at a P/E of 19.45, down from the industry’s 22.64.
MCD P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD’s earnings estimates for 2026 have moved up over the past 30 days, while estimates for 2027 have been revised downward. Despite these mixed revisions, the latest estimates project year-over-year earnings growth of 5.5% in 2026 and 7.9% in 2027, pointing to continued momentum over the next two years.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
BNP Paribas reduced its position in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,033 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 3,347 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in McDonald’s were worth $10,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the 4th quarter worth about $2,890,438,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in McDonald’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,359,276,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in McDonald’s by 30,979.0% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,596,340 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $806,917,000 after acquiring an additional 2,587,986 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 9,867.5% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,541,008 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $776,608,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 171.7% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,125,432 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $913,157,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,998 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
McDonald’s Stock Up 1.9% Shares of NYSE MCD opened at $265.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $270.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.72. The firm has a market cap of $187.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.41. McDonald’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $259.85 and a fifty-two week high of $341.75.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 572.06% and a net margin of 31.72%.The company had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. McDonald’s’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.87 earnings per share for the current year. McDonald’s Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 60.44%.
Insider Activity In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. This trade represents a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.
McDonald’s News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: Investors purchased 34,703 MCD call options, approximately 34% above typical volume. The activity may indicate increased bullish speculation, though options flow alone does not confirm a sustained rally. Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s benefited from a modest rebound in burger stocks as traders considered whether elevated short interest could contribute to a short squeeze. Wendy’s Climbs 4%, McDonald’s Ticks Up: Is Short Interest Setting Up a Squeeze in the Burger Trade? Positive Sentiment: The company is bringing back Spicy McNuggets on September 1 after a two-year absence, alongside other limited-time menu items and seasonal coffee promotions. These launches could support traffic and customer engagement, although their financial impact is likely modest. McDonald’s to Bring Back Spicy McNuggets Positive Sentiment: A consumer survey again ranked McDonald’s fries ahead of major competitors, reinforcing the brand’s strong customer recognition. A Hello Kitty and Godzilla Happy Meal promotion may provide additional promotional appeal. Neutral Sentiment: Analyst comparisons with Domino’s highlight McDonald’s global expansion, digital initiatives and customer-engagement efforts, but do not represent a new company-specific catalyst. McDonald’s vs. Domino’s: Which Stock Has Better Growth Prospects? Neutral Sentiment: Reports about a fake McDonald’s support bot promising free premium AI tools appear to be a scam warning rather than an operating or earnings development. Negative Sentiment: Argus lowered its McDonald’s price target to $310, signaling more limited near-term upside despite the target remaining above the current market level. Argus Lowers McDonald’s Price Target Negative Sentiment: McDonald’s slipped with other burger stocks after takeover speculation surrounding Wendy’s faded, removing a sector-wide catalyst. Separately, commentary pointing to weakening consumer conditions raises concerns about pressure on traffic and value-focused spending, though the claim is not a formal company forecast. Analysts Set New Price Targets MCD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $295.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore set a $320.00 target price on McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird upgraded McDonald’s to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $322.96.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on McDonald’s
McDonald’s Company Profile (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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McDonald's (MCD +1.90%) has delivered strong performance over the last 25 years. Its approach to franchising has quietly given it market-beating returns over that time.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Admittedly, its approach to franchising may make it seem less like a restaurant business on the surface. However, even if investors do not understand the model, they probably should not complain about the results. After investing $1,000 in the consumer discretionary stock 25 years ago, one would have $16,670 today.
Interestingly, around $10,000 of that return came from dividends, while the stock by itself slightly underperformed the S&P 500 during that period. McDonald's initiated its dividend in 1976 and has raised it every year since.
MCD data by YCharts
Moreover, it accomplished these gains with its unique approach to business. The majority of McDonald's restaurants are franchises, making it more asset-light than a restaurant like Chipotle, which owns and operates all of its restaurants.
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Of course, franchising is hardly unusual in the restaurant business, but McDonald's has stood out for a heavy emphasis on brand consistency. Also, its revenue stream relies heavily on franchisee fees, including a 4%-5% fee on sales and a minimum 4% fee for advertising and promotions.
Still, it may surprise investors that much of its success may come from real estate investing rather than from serving food. It owns the building for every McDonald's. Thus, the rent is still paid even if the fast-food business is slow. As a result, McDonald's benefits from fairly steady revenue regardless of the state of the economy.
With that approach, the company has expanded to more than 45,000 restaurants across more than 100 countries, and such a size may spark concerns over global saturation. Nonetheless, rising rents and an increasing population can still help it expand, meaning investors should expect its business model to continue driving stock price and dividend gains for years to come.
Will Healy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $320 calls on McDonald's, short January 2028 $340 calls on McDonald's, and short September 2026 $35 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tracks 30 industry leaders, making it a useful benchmark for identifying solid investments. Two Dow members I've been watching are Home Depot (HD +0.48%) and McDonald's (MCD +1.90%). These stocks are trading more than 20% off their highs, sending their dividend yields up. Here's what I like about each company's competitive position to justify buying the dip.
Image source: Home Depot.
Home Depot Home Depot is the leading home improvement retailer, and a sluggish housing market has weighed on sales, pushing the stock 25% below its 2024 all-time high of $431 per share. The dip has also lifted the forward dividend yield to 2.84%, based on its $2.33 quarterly payment.
With interest rates still elevated, many consumers have put off big-ticket home projects. In fiscal 2025, Home Depot's comparable sales rose just 0.3%. That improved to 1.7% last quarter, but transactions remain down.
This is a cyclical downturn, not a broken business. Home Depot's competitive position remains strong, and its large store base would be difficult to replicate. It has more than 2,300 warehouse stores and over 1,300 SRS Distribution branches. Over the last year, it generated $169 billion in revenue, yet that's still relatively small relative to its addressable market.
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Its stores function as local hubs in residential markets across the U.S. The company rolled out express delivery nationwide last month, aiming to get tens of thousands of items to customers in under three hours -- an added convenience that should support demand when the market recovers.
Management sizes the North American home improvement market at $1.1 trillion, leaving Home Depot's share at only 15%. That leaves a meaningful runway for long-term growth.
The stock's value is best seen in the dividend. Home Depot pays an annualized dividend of $9.32 per share, or about 65% of earnings, which leaves room to maintain and keep growing the payout even in a weak housing environment. The dividend has risen at a 6.6% annualized rate over the past three years.
Home Depot's competitive position, long growth runway, and attractive yield are reasons I'd consider buying the stock now.
McDonald's The Golden Arches are recognized worldwide, and that kind of brand power carries real value for investors. Execution missteps and a softer consumer backdrop have pushed the stock down 24% from its prior high of $341 per share. But McDonald's has raised its dividend for nearly 50 years and currently yields 2.82%, based on the current $1.86 quarterly payment.
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McDonald's is a highly profitable business. About 95% of its 45,000-plus locations are franchised. The company typically owns or leases the land and buildings, while franchisees pay for the equipment, seating, and decor.
As a result, McDonald's earns a large share of its revenue from rents and royalties rather than burgers and fries. In 2025, it generated $16.5 billion in franchise revenue, with $9.7 billion coming from company-operated restaurants. Those high-margin rents and royalties helped produce $7 billion in free cash flow.
That said, sales have been pressured this year by execution issues and a cautious consumer. Global comparable sales increased just 1.3% year over year in the second quarter, reflecting weak traffic following management's pullback of certain digital offers.
Still, the brand's reach is hard to miss. McDonald's has nearly 220 million active loyalty users, which management says is one of the largest loyalty programs in the world.
Even with near-term pressure, management is investing for long-term earnings growth by streamlining operations, improving food quality, and using its data more effectively with artificial intelligence (AI).
The dip has pulled the forward price-to-earnings multiple down to 20, which looks reasonable enough, but the dividend is the clearest sign of value. The company pays out about 60% of earnings, supporting today's yield, and the dividend has grown at a 8% annualized rate over the past three years.
Sales could stay soft for a while, but investors are getting paid to wait. McDonald's franchise model, brand strength, and growing dividend make it a compelling buy on the dip.
Key Takeaways McDonald's is unifying its app, loyalty, pricing, HR and finance systems across major markets.Nearly 220 million loyalty users could fuel targeted promotions, personalization and broader AI use.McDonald's expects global system investments to deliver efficiency benefits and lower G&A from 2027. McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) is positioning its technology infrastructure as an important catalyst for the next phase of growth. After years of building a digital-first business, the company is close to bringing its major markets onto a unified platform spanning one app, loyalty program, pricing engine, HR system and finance system. Management expects this integration to generate cost savings, speed innovation, strengthen security and improve system stability.
The scale of McDonald’s digital ecosystem provides a strong foundation. The company has nearly 220 million active loyalty users globally, giving it a substantial pool of customer data that can support more targeted promotions and personalized experiences. Management also expects to consolidate data into a global data lake, creating opportunities to apply artificial intelligence more effectively across the business.
The platform could also improve productivity. McDonald’s has invested in consolidating and upgrading global systems and processes, with management expecting these investments to begin delivering efficiency benefits in 2027 and help lower G&A spending as a percentage of system-wide sales.
However, execution remains critical. In the second quarter, the company pulled back on digital offers while introducing its new value program, contributing to weaker traffic. Management has since moved to restore national digital offers and increase personalized engagement with frequent customers.
Overall, a more integrated digital backbone could give MCD a powerful combination of growth, personalization, AI capabilities and productivity, provided it executes consistently across the vast restaurant system.
Digital Race: Starbucks and Domino’s Raise the BarMcDonald’s is not alone in using digital platforms to drive customer engagement and productivity. Starbucks (SBUX - Free Report) has strengthened its digital ecosystem by revamping Starbucks Rewards with tiered benefits, personalized offers and greater engagement. With 35.5 million active U.S. members, the program is designed to increase customer frequency and transactions, demonstrating how loyalty data can become a meaningful growth engine.
Domino’s Pizza (DPZ - Free Report) represents another strong digital competitor. More than 85% of its U.S. retail sales came through digital channels in 2025, while Domino’s technology investments continue to enhance ordering convenience. In 2026, Domino’s upgraded the tracker with AI-powered delivery-time estimates and redesigned its website and app to improve the digital ordering experience.
Against these peers, MCD’s advantage is scale. The company’s nearly 220 million active loyalty users and planned integration of its app, loyalty, pricing, HR and finance systems could provide a broader platform for personalization, AI and productivity.
MCD’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesMcDonald’s shares have lost 18.5% in the past six months, underperforming the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry, the broader Retail and Wholesale sector and the S&P 500 index.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
On a forward 12-month basis, MCD trades at a P/E of 20.12, down from the industry’s 22.06.
MCD P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD’s earnings estimates for 2026 have moved higher over the past 30 days, while estimates for 2027 have been revised downward. Despite these mixed revisions, the latest estimates project year-over-year earnings growth of 5.6% in 2026 and 8% in 2027, pointing to continued earnings momentum over the next two years.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Takeaways McDonald's could benefit most as the largest U.S. beef buyer, relying on imported lean beef trimmings. XLY holds McDonald's and Yum! Brands, with their beef exposure a key factor behind potential gains. FXG may gain from JBS exposure, as lower beef costs could improve processing margins. In a move aimed at easing domestic food prices, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a temporary 90-day waiver last Friday on out-of-quota tariffs for up to 300,000 metric tons of imported ground beef trimmings. The policy suspends the customary duties that typically apply to beef imports exceeding established quota limits, effectively opening the floodgates for cheaper foreign beef to enter America.
This decision comes at a critical juncture for the American beef industry, considering the U.S. cattle herd has shrunk to its lowest level since 1951, caused by years of drought, rising feed costs and persistent inflationary pressures that have forced ranchers to reduce their herds. The smaller cattle herd has driven domestic beef prices to record highs, placing immense strain on foodservice operators, restaurants and ultimately consumers, who have been facing higher menu prices lately.
As a direct result of this tariff relief, wholesale ground beef costs are projected to decline meaningfully over the next three months. This should translate into immediate margin expansion for fast-food giants and meat distributors that rely heavily on blended beef products for their core menus.
Consequently, companies with significant exposure to ground beef consumption — alongside the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold them — are well-positioned to benefit from this policy shift. Following the tariff waiver, lower input costs for imported lean beef trimmings should create a distinct opportunity for investors to capitalize on the improving profitability of these key players in the foodservice supply chain.
But before diving into the specifics of these ETFs, let us first examine the companies benefiting from this tariff waiver so that investors can make a fully informed decision about where to allocate their capital.
Key Corporate Beneficiaries of Lower Beef CostsThe primary beneficiaries of this tariff waiver fall into two distinct categories, each with its unique exposure to the ground beef supply chain.
The first one is the fast-food chains, which blend cheaper beef trimmings with domestic fatty cattle trimmings to produce their burger patties, taco fillings and other beef-based menu items. With wholesale costs expected to decline, operating margins for companies with heavy beef menus are set to expand significantly.
Under this category, McDonald's Corporation (MCD - Free Report) , as the largest single buyer of beef in the United States, will perhaps be the most significant beneficiary of this waived tariff. MCD relies heavily on lean beef trimmings from global trade partners such as Australia and South America to manufacture its burger patties.
On the other hand, Yum! Brands (YUM - Free Report) , while primarily known for KFC and Pizza Hut, is also expected to benefit from this policy shift through Taco Bell's massive ground beef consumption.
The second category of beneficiaries that stand to gain from the lower input costs of beef as a result of the 90-day tariff waiver is major meat processors and distributors. These companies with international sourcing networks are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the duty-free imports. They can blend lower-cost foreign beef with domestic trimmings, improving their processing margins and competitive positioning in the U.S. market.
These companies include JBS N.V (JBS - Free Report) , the world’s largest meat processor, as well as food distributors such as US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD - Free Report) and Sysco Corporation (SYY - Free Report) , which purchase wholesale beef and distribute it to foodservice chains across America.
ETFs to GainConsidering the aforementioned discussion, the following ETFs can be expected to gain from the recently waived tariffs on beef import.
State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY - Free Report)
This fund, with assets under management (AUM) worth $23.10 billion, offers exposure to 47 companies in specialty retail; broadline retail; hotels, restaurants and leisure; textiles, apparel and luxury goods; household durables; automobiles; automobile components; distributors; leisure products; and diversified consumer services. MCD holds the fourth spot in this fund, with 4.16% weightage, while YUM holds the 29th spot with 1.07% weightage.
XLY has inched up 0.9% over the past year and charges 8 basis points (bps) as fees. It traded at a good volume of 4.16 million shares in the last trading session.
Invesco Leisure and Entertainment ETF (PEJ - Free Report)
This fund, with a market value worth $373.2 million, offers exposure to 31 companies that are principally engaged in the design, production or distribution of goods or services in the leisure and entertainment industries. SYY holds the third spot in this fund, with 4.99% weightage, while USFD holds the 11th spot with 3.29% weightage.
PEJ has rallied 15.4% over the past year and charges 57 bps as fees. It traded at a volume of 0.02 million shares in the last trading session.
First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX ETF (FXG - Free Report)
This fund, with net assets worth $235.8 million, offers exposure to 40 stocks from the Russell 1000 Index that may generate positive alpha relative to traditional passive style indices through the use of the AlphaDEX screening methodology. JBS holds the third spot in this fund, with 4.59% weightage.
FXG has risen 2.3% over the past year and charges 63 bps as fees. It traded at a volume of 0.002 million shares in the last trading session.
Trian Fund Management just pulled the plug on a deal that had sent Wendy's stock soaring, and now investors are staring at a business the CEO has openly called a disappointment with no buyout floor to fall back on.
Deal speculation is unwinding across the restaurant sector Thursday morning, dragging quick-service burger names lower after a two-week run of takeover chatter around Wendy’s. Reuters reported Wednesday evening, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Trian Fund Management has no plans to bid for Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN | WEN Price Prediction) right now. The scoop pulls the deal premium out of a stock that has been floating on speculation rather than fundamentals.
Wendy’s stock is down 13% to $7.91 in early Thursday trading, giving back the entire pop that followed an August 12 Reuters report on a preparing bid. The stock was up 24% over the past month through Wednesday’s close, a run built almost entirely on the takeover narrative rather than on operating results the CEO has publicly called disappointing.
Meanwhile, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) stock is down 1% to $263.79 on sympathy weakness in the burger cluster. McDonald’s stock was down 12% year to date through Wednesday’s close, extending a difficult stretch for large-cap fast food.
Takeover Premium Evaporates Reuters reported that Trian’s concerns include Wendy’s recent trading price, valuation multiples and current strategic direction. Nelson Peltz and Trian hold a combined stake of more than 24% in Wendy’s, making them the largest shareholder. Peltz personally owns 16%, and Trian holds 7.9%.
The August 12 Reuters report that a Peltz-led group was preparing a take-private bid alongside BlueFive Capital and Wendy’s franchisee Flynn Group had lifted Wendy’s stock 15% that day. That report is the origin of the premium now unwinding, and it’s why the past-month figure looks so large. Reuters also reported that by pulling back, Trian may be giving new CEO Bob Wright room to execute a turnaround of declining sales without a transaction hanging over the process.
Business Beneath the Bid Earlier in August, Wendy’s reported a 6.5% drop in global systemwide sales along with lower net income, higher costs and a decline in earnings per share. Wright stated Wendy’s was “clearly not performing at its potential.” U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 7%, U.S. traffic dropped 12.5%, and the company withdrew its full 2026 financial outlook.
On Monday, Wright told The Wall Street Journal that Wendy’s had compromised on quality to cut costs, and he unveiled a five-point plan to fix it. Wendy’s also cut its quarterly dividend to $0.07 per share to fund the turnaround, with capital redirected toward recovery initiatives rather than shareholder returns.
Wendy’s has lost the No. 2 spot among big burger chains to Burger King, which is owned by Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR), after Burger King revamped its Whopper and refreshed its restaurants. Wendy’s net restaurant count declined by 154 year over year to 7,180 in Q2 2026, another sign of pressure on the store base.
Short interest in Wendy’s stock short interest sits at 30.8% according to Koyfin data, among the highest levels the company has seen, and it has risen steadily since early 2024. Some retail traders argue today’s selloff could set up a short squeeze, a thesis circulating on retail forums.
Sector Trails While Index Advances The Invesco Food & Beverage ETF (NYSEARCA:PBJ) is down 1% to $47.93, reflecting soft trade across the food and beverage complex on the day. At the same time, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.3% to $768.17, so today’s damage is concentrated in restaurant names while the broader index advances. Restaurant Brands International shares are trading slightly lower alongside the group, though QSR stock has led the burger cluster year to date on the back of Burger King’s U.S. momentum.
What to Watch Next Investors can watch for any follow-up statement from Trian or Wendy’s board on the strategic review, along with analyst notes that could downgrade the name now that the takeover premium has been withdrawn. Traders may want to keep an eye on whether Wendy’s stock holds above the $7 level, a psychological line just below the pre-August-12 range and above the 52-week low of $6.07.
Given the gap between deal-driven price action and a business the CEO has openly described as underperforming, shareholders should keep their position sizing modest in Wendy’s stock until Wright’s five-point plan shows evidence in traffic and same-restaurant sales. For their broader exposure to the burger cluster, investors can favor names where operating momentum has been carrying the story, keeping their allocation to speculative deal setups small.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Key Takeaways McDonald's is leveraging global expansion, digital reach and nearly 220 million loyalty users.Domino's is gaining order momentum while expanding stores and seeking additional U.S. market share.Both stocks trade below their one-year median forward P/E multiples, while earnings outlooks diverge. The quick-service restaurant industry is navigating a more demanding environment as consumers remain value-conscious while companies balance traffic, pricing, digital investments and expansion. Against this backdrop, McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) and Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (DPZ - Free Report) offer two distinct growth models.
McDonald’s is leveraging its enormous global footprint, restaurant expansion and digital ecosystem, while Domino’s is focused on order growth, store expansion and the delivery-led model. With both companies pursuing growth amid evolving consumer preferences and cost pressures, a closer look at their recent performance, growth strategies and outlook can help determine which stock has stronger prospects ahead.
The Case for MCDMcDonald’s continues to benefit from healthy momentum across several international markets. Comparable sales in its International Operated Markets rose 1.5%, with Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom leading performance. Menu innovation, value offerings and locally tailored marketing campaigns are helping the company respond to changing consumer preferences. The International Developmental Licensed Markets also posted 1.9% comparable sales growth, led by Japan’s sustained guest-count gains.
McDonald’s has built a large digital customer base, with nearly 220 million active loyalty users, while its delivery business generates more than $20 billion in annual system-wide sales. The company is also moving toward a more integrated technology platform across its major markets, which management expects to improve efficiency and accelerate innovation. Its new beverage platform is already showing encouraging early results, with higher guest checks and emerging new consumption occasions in key markets.
McDonald’s remains in an aggressive expansion phase, with plans to open roughly 2,600 gross restaurants in 2026. Although the company pushed its 50,000-restaurant target from 2027 to 2028 because of a pressured consumer environment and higher development costs, management still describes the current expansion cycle as the fastest in its history. Meanwhile, investments in global systems are expected to begin generating greater efficiency benefits in 2027.
The U.S. business was a notable weak spot in the quarter, with comparable sales increasing just 0.8%. Management attributed the shortfall largely to inconsistent execution of value offerings, overly complicated restaurant deployments and marketing campaigns that failed to meet expectations. These issues hurt customer traffic and service levels, while the broader QSR industry is also dealing with flat-to-negative traffic in several major markets. McDonald’s is responding with more targeted digital offers, additional support for value promotions and simpler restaurant operations, but restoring U.S. traffic remains an important near-term challenge.
The Case for DPZDomino’s continued to generate healthy order momentum despite a difficult U.S. restaurant environment. Management said order counts increased meaningfully across both delivery and carryout, while the company also continued gaining traction through third-party aggregators such as Uber and DoorDash. With Domino’s estimated at roughly 23% of the U.S. pizza category, management believes there remains substantial room to capture additional share.
Domino’s continues to expand its global footprint, supporting retail sales growth even when comparable-store trends are modest. Global net store additions approached 1,000 over the past year, while international retail sales increased 4.1% in the second quarter, helped by 183 new stores during the quarter. For 2026, the company expects to add about 800 net international stores and approximately 175 stores in the United States.
Domino’s is adjusting its marketing calendar and product lineup to better align with consumer demand. The company enhanced its Best Deal Ever promotion by adding Stuffed Crust and reported encouraging customer response. It also plans to introduce a new pizza innovation in the third quarter to address an unmet consumer need and give customers another reason to choose the brand. These initiatives could help improve ticket trends and strengthen order growth in the coming quarters.
Despite strong order growth, Domino’s U.S. same-store sales increased only 0.1% in the second quarter because lower average ticket offset gains in order volume. Management attributed much of the ticket pressure to weaker-than-expected customer response to its Premium Series and Slice Sauce promotion. In addition, macroeconomic uncertainty and heightened competition are pressuring consumers, while weaker franchisee profitability has led the company to slightly trim its 2026 U.S. store-opening expectation.
How Do MCD and DPZ Stack Up on Estimates?The Zacks Consensus Estimate for McDonald’s 2026 sales and EPS calls for year-over-year growth of 4.7% and 5.6%, respectively. Notably, analysts have become more optimistic about MCD’s earnings outlook, with its 2026 EPS estimate moving higher over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For Domino’s, the 2026 sales and EPS estimates imply year-over-year growth of 4.2% and 7.5%, respectively. However, unlike McDonald’s, DPZ’s earnings estimates have trended lower over the past 30 days, pointing to some caution surrounding its near-term earnings outlook.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Price Performance & ValuationMCD’s shares have declined 3.9% over the past three months, compared with a 0.5% drop for the industry. In contrast, DPZ has delivered stronger stock-price momentum, with shares gaining 11.1% during the same period.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation perspective, both stocks are trading below their respective one-year median forward P/E multiples. MCD currently trades at 19.7X forward 12-month earnings, below its one-year median of 22.9X. DPZ trades at 17.12X, also below its one-year median of 19.69X. This suggests that both stocks are trading at relatively discounted valuations compared with their recent historical levels.
P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
End NotesOverall, both McDonald’s and Domino’s present compelling growth stories, supported by global expansion, digital initiatives and efforts to strengthen customer engagement. McDonald’s benefits from its broad international footprint, loyalty ecosystem and improving earnings outlook, while Domino’s is seeing strong order momentum, continued store expansion and opportunities to gain market share. However, DPZ’s stronger earnings-growth potential and recent share-price momentum give it a slight edge here.
Both MCD and DPZ currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) shares are climbing on Friday, sitting just above its 52-week low as the chart remains under pressure even with today’s move. Here’s what you need to know.
McDonald’s stock is showing upward movement. Why is MCD stock trading higher? MCD’s Chart Is Doing the Talking, and It’s Not Small TalkThe bigger-picture setup remains heavy. Shares are trading below their 20-day, 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages, and with the 50-day average still sitting beneath the 200-day, the death cross that formed back in May remains firmly intact. That kind of alignment has generally meant sellers step in whenever the stock tries to rally, keeping the broader trend under a cloud until it proves otherwise.
Momentum isn’t offering much encouragement either. Looking at MACD, the indicator sits below its signal line with a negative histogram, the classic sign that upward pressure is fading unless buyers can climb back above that baseline and hold their ground.
That’s part of why the stock’s closeness to its 52-week low of $259.85 carries weight right now. Once a stock is hovering just above a level like that, every additional dollar of movement stops being background noise and starts telling a real story, either the stock is carving out a bottom, or it’s setting up for another leg down.
The key levels are straightforward. Resistance sits at $278.50, a zone where rebounds have tended to stall and one that lines up with the overhead band of moving averages near the 100-day mark. Support sits at $261, a near-term floor just above the 52-week low where buyers have recently stepped in.
The Business Model: Royalties, Rent, And a Lot Riding On TrafficBehind the chart sits a business model that explains why even small forecast changes can spark outsized debate over the stock’s value. McDonald’s remains the largest restaurant brand on the planet, generating nearly $139 billion in systemwide sales across more than 45,000 locations spanning over 100 countries. Its long-standing advantage has always come down to running a consistent, affordable experience at global scale.
On the financial side, roughly 62% of revenue flows in through franchise royalties and rent, with the remaining share coming from restaurants the company operates directly across both domestic and international markets. That structure can make the stock look steady on the surface, but it also means investors are constantly reassessing customer traffic, pricing decisions and the financial condition of franchisees, all of which directly shape longer-term cash flow expectations and, ultimately, where analysts set their price targets.
On Wall Street, the stock holds an overall Buy rating, with an average price target of $319.88. Recent analyst activity shows that back-and-forth in real time.
Argus Research maintained its Buy rating while trimming its target to $310 on Aug. 26, Guggenheim kept a Neutral rating while lowering its target to $290 on Aug. 6, and Citigroup held its Buy rating while raising its target to $345 on Aug. 5. Taken as a whole, this isn’t a sign that confidence in the stock is collapsing, it’s more a matter of the market working through a wider range of possible outcomes.
MCD Shares Are RisingMCD Price Action: McDonald’s shares were up 1.47% at $263.87 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Wendy's short interest has climbed to one of its highest readings on record, and a sudden 4% snapback after a brutal single-session collapse is raising an uncomfortable question for anyone still holding a short position in the burger chain.
The burger trade is catching a modest bid Friday morning, and one name is doing the heavy lifting. A crowded short book at Wendy’s is meeting a small sector tailwind, and shares are trying to decide whether Thursday’s steep drop was the last shoe or a squeeze setup.
Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN | WEN Price Prediction) stock is up 4% to $8.14, rebounding after Thursday’s 13% slide on the Trian headlines. The bounce mostly recovers a piece of yesterday’s damage rather than extending a fresh trend.
Meanwhile, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) stock is up 2% to $264.03, and the Invesco Food & Beverage ETF (NYSEARCA:PBJ) is up 0.6% to $48.09. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.48% to $774.79, which places Wendy’s 4% rebound within a broad sector/index move. Still, there may be more going on with WEN stock today that traders need to know about.
Short Interest, Squeeze Talk, and a Missing Catalyst No fresh company news, filing, or analyst action has hit Wendy’s today. The available mechanism is an oversold bounce after Thursday’s decline, possibly amplified by short covering into an already-crowded short book.
Short interest in Wendy’s sits at 30.8% according to Koyfin data, among the highest readings the company has recorded and rising steadily since early 2024. Elevated short interest combined with a 4% snapback off a 13% single-session drop is consistent with a squeeze setup, though it doesn’t confirm one. The intraday borrow and covering data needed to prove forced buying isn’t available here.
Trian Overhang Behind Thursday’s Drop The prior session’s decline followed a Reuters report, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Trian Fund Management has no plans to bid for Wendy’s right now. Trian’s concerns included Wendy’s trading price, valuation multiples and current strategic direction.
That unwound a takeover premium built after an August 12 Reuters report that a Nelson Peltz-led group was preparing a take-private bid alongside BlueFive Capital and Wendy’s franchisee Flynn Group, a report that lifted the stock 15% on the day. Peltz and Trian together hold more than 24% of Wendy’s, with Peltz personally owning 16% and Trian holding 7.9%.
By pulling back, Reuters noted, Trian may give new CEO Bob Wright room to execute a turnaround without a transaction hanging over the process. Wright’s operating job isn’t small.
Wendy’s reported a 6.5% drop in global systemwide sales, with U.S. same-restaurant sales down 7% and U.S. traffic dropping 12.5%. The company withdrew its full 2026 financial outlook and cut its quarterly dividend to $0.07 per share to fund the turnaround.
McDonald’s Ticks Up as QSR Firms Higher McDonald’s stock at $264.03 sits inside a broader lift for quick-service names rather than tracking a company-specific catalyst. McDonald’s was down 14% year to date (YTD) through Thursday’s close, so the day’s gain is a small dent in a larger drawdown.
PBJ at $48.09 and SPY at $774.79 are both green, but Wendy’s 4% pop is a single-name rebound outrunning both. That distinction matters for anyone tempted to read today’s action as a group thesis rather than an idiosyncratic bounce.
What to Watch Next Traders can watch for follow-through in Wendy’s stock trading volume through the close, since a genuine short-covering episode typically shows up in trading data rather than headlines alone. Any fresh commentary from Wright, or a new Trian filing, would reset the setup quickly.
Investors sizing their exposure to Wendy’s stock should treat it as a high-volatility, event-driven name (a little speculation like this is fine when it stays fenced off with real rules, the exact playbook we laid out in a free guide here: Small Stakes, Big Swings). They should keep their positions modest and their stop discipline tight, because short interest at 30.8% cuts both ways when the fundamental picture is still soft.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Ally Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 18,000 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock, valued at approximately $4,866,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in McDonald’s by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in McDonald’s by 11.4% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. United Bank raised its position in McDonald’s by 6.0% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 8,102 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,367,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its position in McDonald’s by 2.5% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 12,938 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Key McDonald’s News Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is emphasizing value through sharper pricing, digital offers and improved franchise execution in the United States. Analysts see the “value reset” as a potential way to rebuild traffic and convert affordability-focused customers into sales growth. Can MCD’s Value Reset Turn U.S. Traffic Weakness Into Sales Growth? Positive Sentiment: A beverage platform reportedly performing at or above plan in every market launched could provide a new source of sales momentum and potentially support the next McDonald’s stock rally. What Could Power The Next Rally In McDonald’s Stock Positive Sentiment: Seasonal and promotional launches—including new fall beverages, a returning breakfast item, Hello Kitty-Godzilla Happy Meal toys, and an Xbox gaming partnership—could increase customer visits, digital engagement and limited-time sales. McDonald’s Happy Meal to bring Hello Kitty and Godzilla together Neutral Sentiment: Zacks forecasts McDonald’s third-quarter earnings, but the article does not indicate a major change to the company’s established earnings outlook. Zacks Research Forecasts McDonald’s Q3 Earnings Neutral Sentiment: McDonald’s is adapting menus for regional preferences, including a Shravan menu in India. Such localization may help international relevance but has limited near-term significance for consolidated results. McDonald’s Shravan menu in India Negative Sentiment: Food inflation remains a risk, particularly for beef costs. A temporary tariff pause may not materially ease consumer prices or restaurant input pressures, potentially limiting margins and value initiatives. Trump’s 90-Day Inflation Band-Aid Negative Sentiment: Some customers have criticized McDonald’s new fall iced coffee, raising a modest product-execution and demand risk. The discontinuation of Chicken Selects also highlights ongoing menu and supply-chain decisions, though neither item alone is likely to materially affect earnings. McDonald’s fall iced coffee criticism Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. This trade represents a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total value of $769,108.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,744,760.48. The trade was a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 8,348 shares of company stock worth $2,355,634 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several analysts have recently weighed in on MCD shares. Weiss Ratings cut McDonald’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Cfra raised shares of McDonald’s to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $295.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.88.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on McDonald’s
McDonald’s Stock Performance McDonald’s stock opened at $270.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $191.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.00, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.41. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $260.96 and a 52-week high of $341.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $272.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $293.50.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.
McDonald’s Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is 60.44%.
McDonald’s Company Profile (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than McDonald’s VIG, VYM, and VYMI: Which Vanguard Dividend ETF Is Right for You? 3 Closed-End Funds to Maximize Dividend Payments Rocket Lab’s Sell-Off Is Fading—Is It Finally Safe to Buy? $27 Billion in Buybacks: 3 Stocks Betting Their Strong Runs Aren’t Over Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report).
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Most of the time, buying a dividend stock is a long-term commitment. It's not that these stocks can't do well enough in the short run. Their chief purpose and performance, however, is often rooted in steady, cumulative progress that takes a while to start paying off in earnest.
Every now and then, though, a shorter-term reason to own a dividend stock surfaces. In addition to their income potential, the underlying tickers themselves are undervalued and ripe for capital gains typically not expected of dividend-paying names.
With that backdrop in place, here's a closer look at three dividend stocks you might want to step into, as long as you start with a five-year mindset. If you choose to do so down the road, of course, you can always decide to stick with them well beyond the five-year mark.
Image source: Getty Images.
Home Depot It's no secret why Home Depot (HD +0.34%) shares haven't made any net progress for the past five years. Although the home improvement retailer's stock soared during and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, spending on home improvements and homebuilding itself remains anemic. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that, as of July, residential housing starts and completions are both now near or at multiyear lows. And Home Depot's recently reported Q2 same-store sales were up only 1.7%, and 1.3% in the U.S., with much of that modest growth simply the result of higher prices. Moreover, with home prices and mortgage rates both still outrageously high, it doesn't feel like accelerated growth is on the near-term horizon either.
As the old adage goes, though, it's always darkest before dawn.
It's difficult to remember or believe when you're in the trough, but the economy -- and even different aspects of the economy -- are highly cyclical. Things seem tough right now, but market dynamics do eventually dictate change.
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The stage is set for change from a big chunk of Home Depot's business, too. That's homebuilding. Data recently gathered by the Congressional Research Service indicates that the U.S. needs on the order of an additional 4 million to 5 million homes to meet actual demand. Although homebuilding starts are still currently at multiyear lows, they may also be near a cyclical bottom. It's also worth noting that average home prices and median home prices of homes being sold in the United States have actually been slowly drifting lower for three years now, according to the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Both measures are now on the verge of falling back under pre-2021 levels, in fact, when prices first reached untenable levels.
Only time will tell how close the residential construction market and Home Depot stock are to their respective bottoms. You'd be plugging into a forward-looking dividend yield of 2.8% in the meantime, though, which certainly makes it easier to remain patient waiting on the eventual recovery.
McDonald's One would think a value-oriented brand like fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's (MCD +0.68%) would thrive when money is tight, and consumers are pinching pennies. That's certainly been the case in the past anyway.
In light of last quarter's results, however, it's clear that McDonald's simply missed the mark. Companywide same-store sales only improved 1.3% year over year, while comparable sales in the United States were only up 0.8%. And like Home Depot, at least some of that sales growth is attributable to price increases. CEO Christopher Kempczinski also conceded during the Q2 earnings conference call that, "although we've restored our overall value and affordability leadership, our restaurant level results show that execution was inconsistent across the system."
Investors seemed to see it coming well beforehand, though. The share price peaked all the way back in February and is now down more than 20% from that high, and it is still near a two-year low.
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Once again, however, it's always darkest before dawn. Last quarter's lackluster results appear to be a wake-up call for McDonald's management team. As CFO Ian Borden commented during the Q2 earnings call, "we're acting with urgency to improve our baseline guest traffic and put the U.S. business in a stronger position as we exit 2026."
Investors looking to capitalize on this stock's impending, growth-driven recovery will be stepping into a forward-looking yield of 2.8%. And that's based on a dividend, by the way, that's now been raised for 49 consecutive years. There's no end to the streak in sight, either, given that a large portion of McDonald's cash flow comes from the rent its franchisees pay, regardless of how well or poorly their restaurants perform.
Johnson & Johnson Last but not least, add Johnson & Johnson (JNJ +1.07%) to your list of dividend stocks to buy and hold for the next five years.
There's no denying you can do better than its forward-looking yield of only 2%. So, if you need more income right out of the gate, by all means, look elsewhere.
If you're looking for a balance of income and growth potential, however, Johnson & Johnson brings some of both to the table even after its 92% run-up from early last-year's low -- that rally still doesn't fully reflect what's likely in store in the foreseeable future.
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Simply put, J&J is looking to become an oncology titan. Specifically, it aims to grow its cancer drug business from around $30 billion annually to at least $50 billion by 2030, making it the largest player in oncology.
The thing is, it can do it. Through a combination of strategies that includes expanded approvals of existing treatments like Darzalex (which achieved year-over-year reported revenue growth of 19% in Q2), partnerships like the one that brought Carvykti into its portfolio, and outright acquisitions like last year's purchase of Halda Therapeutics that gave it clinical stage prostate cancer drug HLD-0915, that $50 billion mark is more than achievable by 2030.
And that's just oncology. Johnson & Johnson is also turning up the heat on its medical technology business. Just a few days ago, the company announced the FDA had cleared the latest version of the software used by its robotically assisted bronchoscopy platform called the Monarch. It's the fourth launch of new Monarch technology in the past year and a half, with this latest one also integrating Johnson & Johnson's digital learning ecosystem called Polyphonic.
The point is, J&J is finally reinventing itself following a slow exit from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Takeaways McDonald's Q2 U.S. comps rose 0.8%, but value-related issues drove about two-thirds of the traffic shortfall.MCD is bringing back national digital offers and personalized promotions to lift frequent-customer visits.Extra Value Meals, sharper pricing and better EDAP compliance are central to McDonald's U.S. sales recovery. McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) is working to restore U.S. traffic momentum through a sharper value strategy in a challenging consumer environment. During the second quarter of 2026, U.S. comparable sales increased 0.8% but fell short of the company’s expectations, as inconsistent value execution and weaker engagement among frequent customers weighed on visits.
The value reset is supported by progress across several parts of McDonald’s affordability platform. U.S. base-menu pricing across beef, chicken and beverages is now below nearby competitors, while internal value and affordability scores have improved by roughly seven to eight points. The $5 Meal Deal continues to perform well, and Extra Value Meals are meeting or exceeding expectations, with franchisees maintaining discounts of at least 15% compared with equivalent à la carte purchases.
The EDAP rollout remains a key execution variable in the U.S. traffic recovery. Approximately 60%-65% of the U.S. system was adhering to the recommended pricing architecture for the 10-items-under-$3 platform, while consumer awareness remained below targeted levels. At the same time, the pullback in digital offers and discontinuation of Buy One, Add One for $1 reduced engagement among some high-frequency customers. McDonald’s estimated that these value-related execution issues accounted for roughly two-thirds of the traffic shortfall versus its expectations in the quarter.
McDonald’s is responding by bringing back national digital flash offers, increasing personalized promotions for high-frequency users and reallocating marketing dollars toward proven value platforms such as Extra Value Meals. The company is also working with franchisees to improve EDAP execution, with pricing and pricing compliance now considered in franchisee business reviews.
MCD’s ability to restore U.S. traffic growth will likely depend on whether its value reset can improve EDAP pricing execution, reengage frequent customers through digital offers and direct marketing support toward proven value platforms such as Extra Value Meals. These actions can help drive incremental visits and strengthen baseline momentum, making consistent execution across the franchise system central to the company’s effort to improve U.S. sales.
McDonald’s Competitor LandscapeStarbucks Corporation (SBUX - Free Report) is demonstrating stronger U.S. traffic momentum as its Back to Starbucks turnaround gains traction. In the third quarter of fiscal 2026, U.S. comparable sales increased 7.9%, driven by a 4.2% rise in transactions and 3.6% growth in average ticket, while pricing contributed less than one percentage point to ticket growth. Operational execution also improved under Green Apron Service, with Starbucks achieving target service times across access points despite higher transaction volumes. Meanwhile, the U.S. Rewards base reached 35.8 million 90-day active members. These trends reflect improving operating consistency, customer engagement and transaction momentum despite continued pressure on U.S. consumer sentiment.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG - Free Report) is also generating positive traffic while advancing value, digital engagement and restaurant execution under its Recipe for Growth strategy. Second-quarter 2026 comparable restaurant sales increased 2.2%, including a 1% transaction gain, while menu pricing contributed approximately 1.6%. Chipotle also reported improving guest perceptions of value, while new in-restaurant enrollment tools introduced following its Rewards relaunch drove a nearly 20% increase in daily enrollments since their launch. However, recent sales trends softened as consumer caution across the broader restaurant industry increased, pointing to a more challenging demand backdrop.
Against this setup, Starbucks and Chipotle are maintaining positive transaction growth while continuing to invest in restaurant execution, loyalty engagement and customer value. For McDonald’s, improving U.S. performance will likely depend on narrowing execution gaps across its value and digital initiatives while sustaining its improved affordability positioning in a still-challenging consumer environment.
SBUX’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesShares of McDonald’s have declined 14.6% in the past year compared with the industry’s fall of 7.3%.
MCD’s One-Year Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, MCD trades at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of 6.51, above the industry’s average of 3.11.
MCD’s P/S Ratio (Forward 12-Month) vs. Industry
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MCD’s 2026 earnings per share (EPS) implies a year-over-year rise of 5.6%. The EPS estimates for 2026 have increased in the past 30 days.
EPS Trend of MCD Stock
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD’s Zacks RankMCD stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Stepping into a falling stock is never entirely comfortable. Even if it's a blue chip name, you can never really know until later precisely when it reached the bottom of its trough.
Nevertheless, for long-term, high-quality prospects, the time to buy is when they're on sale.
With that as the backdrop, discount-minded income investors looking for a new holding might want to consider adding fast-food restaurant stock and Dow component McDonald's (MCD +0.82%) after the run-in it had with a new 52-week low last month.
Finally forced to fix what's broken The burger giant has obviously been struggling all year. We were reminded why earlier this month, when CEO Chris Kempczinski acknowledged that the "constrained consumer environment" had taken a toll on traffic, resulting in disappointing systemwide same-store sales growth of only 1.3% and domestic same-store sales growth of only 0.8%.
Image source: Getty Images.
As the adage goes, though, it's always darkest before dawn. As CFO Ian Borden put it during the second-quarter earnings conference call, "We're acting with urgency to improve our baseline guest traffic and put the U.S. business in a stronger position as we exit 2026."
Then there's the other thing.
Impending improvement of its dividend profile Clearly, the company has a couple of things to figure out about navigating the current consumer environment. McDonald's dividend wasn't and isn't in any real jeopardy, however. The stock's 21% pullback from its late-February peak simply pumped its forward dividend yield up to 2.8%.
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That's based on a dividend, by the way, that has been raised annually for 49 consecutive years.
And this might be the biggest reason of all to dive in here. Assuming it announces its next payout hike in September or October, as it has for years now, McDonald's is no more than two months away from almost certainly announcing its 50th consecutive year of per-share dividend growth, qualifying it as one of the market's very few Dividend Kings -- companies that have raised dividends for 50 or more straight years. This alone could spark a recovery rally, as the mutual funds and exchange-traded funds designed to own all the companies that have achieved that feat will need to make sizable purchases of this stock.
James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $320 calls on McDonald's and short January 2028 $340 calls on McDonald's. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Belpointe Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,791 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 2,279 shares during the quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $4,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCD. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,692,000 after buying an additional 1,649 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s by 11.4% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 6.0% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 8,102 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,367,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 2.5% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 12,938 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,780,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on McDonald’s from $325.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $306.00 in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Freedom Capital raised shares of McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.44.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MCD Insider Activity In other McDonald’s news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total value of $769,108.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,744,760.48. The trade was a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. The trade was a 40.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,348 shares of company stock worth $2,355,634. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
McDonald’s Price Performance MCD stock opened at $266.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $188.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.41. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $260.96 and a 12 month high of $341.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $294.15.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.13 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 earnings per share for the current year.
McDonald’s Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.44%.
Key Stories Impacting McDonald’s Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s second-quarter earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $3.38 versus the $3.32 consensus. Franchise-related strength, international growth, beverage opportunities and a planned U.S. recovery could support a rebound if management improves traffic and execution. McDonald’s Q2 Earnings Beat Puts U.S. Traffic and Margins in Focus Positive Sentiment: New and returning menu offerings—including a fall coffee flavor, limited-time meals and the Hello Kitty x Godzilla Happy Meal—could generate customer engagement and incremental visits. A gas-savings promotion may also enhance value perceptions. McDonald’s Has 8 New Hello Kitty x Godzilla Happy Meal Toys McDonald’s Company Profile (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
Further Reading Five stocks we like better than McDonald’s Bloom Energy’s AI Surge Meets a Valuation Reality Check Target Is Winning Shoppers Back—Can the Rally Reach $180? IonQ’s Space Contract Points to a New Frontier for Quantum Investors Is Apple’s AI Strategy Smarter Than Skeptics Think? Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report).
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Key Takeaways McDonald's U.S. comparable sales rose just 0.8% as value and marketing execution weighed on traffic.McDonald's is boosting digital offers, simplifying operations and expanding beverages to revive U.S. traffic.MCD trades below the industry P/E average, while international growth and its strategy support recovery. McDonald’s Corporation’s (MCD - Free Report) shares have declined 18.9% in the past six months, underperforming the industry’s 10.1% decline and the S&P 500’s 11.7% gain. The decline reflects concerns about weak U.S. traffic, inconsistent execution of value offerings and marketing missteps. The company acknowledged that U.S. comparable sales slowed sharply in the second quarter, rising just 0.8%, below its expectations.
The pressure continued into the early part of the third quarter. Management said U.S. comparable sales were slightly negative in July, indicating that the company’s corrective measures will take time to produce results. Against this backdrop, investors may wonder whether the stock’s decline has created an attractive entry point or whether more weakness could lie ahead.
On the other hand, MCD has also underperformed compared with industry peers such as Starbucks Corporation (SBUX - Free Report) and Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM - Free Report) , as shown in the chart below.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
U.S. Execution Remains a Key ConcernMcDonald’s biggest near-term challenge is getting its U.S. business back on track. Management said the company’s value proposition has improved considerably, with base menu prices now below those of nearby competitors and the $5 Meal Deal and Extra Value Meals performing well. However, execution of the new Every Day Affordable Price menu was inconsistent.
Only about 60% to 65% of the U.S. system was executing the recommended pricing architecture for the under-$3 menu. The company also reduced the number of digital offers and removed its Buy One, Add One for $1 promotion, which hurt visits from loyal customers. Management estimated that these value-related decisions accounted for roughly two-thirds of the U.S. customer traffic shortfall compared with expectations in the quarter.
Restaurant operations also suffered because employees had to manage too many simultaneous product launches, promotions and marketing campaigns. This increased complexity, hurt service times and weighed on customer satisfaction. McDonald’s plans to simplify restaurant operations and reduce noncustomer-facing activities to allow employees to focus more on service.
McDonald’s Has Several Levers for RecoveryDespite the U.S. weakness, the latest results were not uniformly negative. Global comparable sales increased 1.3% in the second quarter, while systemwide sales rose 4% on a constant-currency basis. International markets continued to perform better, with comparable sales increasing 1.5% in International Operated Markets and 1.9% in International Developmental Licensed Markets.
The company is already taking steps to revive U.S. traffic. It plans to increase national digital flash offers, personalize promotions for frequent customers and redirect marketing spending toward proven-value offerings. Management also expects restaurant execution to improve relatively quickly because many of the operational changes are within its control. Marketing improvements are expected to take longer, with management targeting stronger execution in 2027.
Another encouraging area is beverages. McDonald’s new beverage platform is performing ahead of initial expectations in the United States, Canada and Germany. Management said more than half of beverage traffic is occurring after lunch, suggesting the platform is creating incremental occasions. Beverage orders are also benefiting from strong food attachment and higher average checks.
Long-Term Growth Strategy Offers UpsideMcDonald’s is also preparing to roll out its McDonald’s > NEXT strategy, focused on improving food taste and quality, strengthening hospitality and simplifying restaurant operations. The company expects productivity opportunities to help fund the investments associated with the strategy. More details are expected at its Investor Day in September.
The company continues to expand the restaurant base, although it pushed the target of reaching 50,000 restaurants globally to 2028 from 2027 because of inflationary development costs and a pressured consumer environment. It remains on track to open about 2,600 gross restaurants in 2026.
Financially, McDonald’s remains resilient. Second-quarter adjusted EPS was $3.38, representing a 5% increase year over year on a constant-currency basis. The company generated more than $4 billion in restaurant margins during the quarter, while its year-to-date adjusted operating margin stood at 46.9%.
McDonald's Growth ProjectionAnalysts have slightly raised their 2026 earnings expectations for McDonald’s over the past 30 days, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate increasing 2 cents to $12.88 per share. In contrast, the 2027 estimate has been lowered 10 cents to $13.93 per share. Despite these revisions, the consensus estimates point to earnings growth, with 2026 and 2027 EPS expected to increase 5.7% and 8.1% year over year, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Revenue growth is also expected to remain steady. The Zacks Consensus Estimate projects revenues of $28.18 billion for 2026 and $29.61 billion for 2027, representing year-over-year growth of 4.8% and 5.1%, respectively.
MCD Stock Trades at a DiscountMcDonald’s currently trades at a discount to its industry based on the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. The stock’s multiple stands at 19.71X, below the industry average of 21.65X. By comparison, Starbucks and Yum! Brands trade at higher forward P/E multiples of 34.61X and 21.14X, respectively.
P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Wrapping UpOverall, McDonald’s remains a fundamentally strong business, but its near-term outlook is clouded by weak U.S. traffic, execution issues, softer marketing performance and a challenging consumer environment. Existing investors may prefer to hold as management is actively addressing these issues, while the company’s strong brand, resilient margins, international performance, beverage growth and long-term strategy provide a solid foundation for recovery.
However, the recent weakness in U.S. comparable sales and continued pressure early in the current quarter suggest that the turnaround is still in its early stages. Therefore, new investors may want to wait for clearer signs of sustained improvement in U.S. traffic and execution before initiating a fresh position, even though the stock’s relatively attractive valuation could limit downside once the business begins to regain momentum.
MCD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Key Takeaways McDonald's Q2 earnings beat estimates as franchised margins rose, despite a revenue miss.U.S. traffic remained weak, with value execution issues driving most of the traffic shortfall.International growth and new restaurants support MCD as U.S. initiatives take time. McDonald's Corporation (MCD - Free Report) delivered a mixed second-quarter 2026 report. Adjusted earnings beat expectations, but revenues fell short as U.S. traffic remained soft even while international comparable sales stayed positive.
The investor question now centers on whether franchised margin growth, global expansion and improving international trends can offset weaker U.S. guest counts and pressure on company-operated profitability.
MCD Earnings Beat Relies on Franchised StrengthAdjusted earnings were $3.38 per share, up 6% year over year and 1.8% above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.32. Revenues rose 4% to $7.10 billion but missed the consensus mark of $7.14 billion by 0.5%.
Franchised restaurant margins increased 4.3% to $3.71 billion and represented roughly 90% of total restaurant margin dollars. Company-operated restaurant margins rose 1.8% overall, but U.S. margins fell 6% to $91 million, reflecting continued inflationary cost pressure.
McDonald’s U.S. Traffic Remains the Main Pressure PointU.S. comparable sales increased 0.8%, supported by positive average check growth and favorable product mix, but lower guest counts limited the result. Management estimated that value execution issues accounted for about two-thirds of the customer traffic shortfall versus expectations.
The weakness carried into the third quarter, with U.S. comparable sales slightly negative in July. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG - Free Report) reported second-quarter comparable restaurant sales growth of 2.2%, including a 1.0% increase in transactions. Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR - Free Report) posted 8.5% comparable sales growth at Burger King U.S., adding competitive context to McDonald’s traffic challenge.
MCD International Sales Provide a Growth CushionInternational Operated Markets comparable sales rose 1.5%, led by Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom. International Developmental Licensed Markets increased 1.9%, with Japan leading growth while China remained a drag.
Management expects comparable sales growth in both international segments to accelerate sequentially in the third quarter and on a two-year stacked basis. That outlook gives MCD a potential offset while U.S. traffic initiatives take time to gain traction.
McDonald’s Expansion Plan Keeps 2026 Growth IntactMcDonald’s still expects to open about 2,600 restaurants in 2026, producing roughly 2,100 net additions. Net restaurant expansion is projected to contribute about 2.5% to systemwide sales growth in constant currencies, even as the 50,000-restaurant target moves to 2028.
The company continues to expect a full-year operating margin in the mid-to-high 40% range. Capital expenditures are projected at $3.7-$3.9 billion, while interest expense is expected to increase 4-6%. The outlook therefore pairs continued restaurant investment with higher financing expense.
MCD Signals Reflect a Mixed Post-Earnings SetupThe quarter leaves investors with a clear trade-off. Franchised economics and international growth remain supportive, but U.S. traffic, company-operated margins and execution are still key variables to watch.
MCD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), a neutral short-term signal. The VGM Score of D and Value Score of D are less supportive, while the Growth Score of C is middling. The Momentum Score of B is the strongest Style Score signal, but the overall mix does not point to a uniformly favorable setup. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Low-income diners are spending less at McDonald's, Numerator found. Mario Tama/Getty Images McDonald's is losing ground to rivals among low-income fast-food diners, according to recent data.
Spending by low-income guests at the Golden Arches declined 2.4% year-over-year during the company's latest quarter, said consumer analytics company Numerator. The firm defines "low-income guests" as those from households making $40,000 or less a year.
The drop is McDonald's first quarterly decline with low-income guests in the past year and amounts to roughly $310 million in lost sales, Numerator said on Tuesday.
Rival fast-food chain Burger King, meanwhile, notched a 0.3% gain over the same period.
The data is the latest sign that McDonald's is struggling to attract diners, especially in a K-shaped economy.
While the chain long won over price-conscious diners with deals like its buy-one-get-one discount on sandwiches such as the Big Mac, it has had issues rolling out its latest value menu, which focuses on items priced $3 or less, CEO Chris Kempczinski said on an earnings call earlier this month.
"Although we've restored our overall value and affordability leadership, our restaurant-level results show that execution was inconsistent across the system," Kempczinski said.
McDonald's comparable US sales growth slowed to 0.8% during its second quarter, the company said. Rivals from Burger King to casual dining chain Chili's have posted stronger results while offering their own value menus and deals, Business Insider has reported.
Some McDonald's customers have told Business Insider they're now eating more at other chains or cooking more at home, due to higher costs.
Despite the company's struggles, some McDonald's offers are still drawing in diners of all income levels, Numerator found.
The chain's fried apple pie, an old menu item it brought back for America's 250th birthday this summer, has been purchased by 11.7% of US households, Numerator said.
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Alex Bitter You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Alex Bitter is a senior retail reporter covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His work focuses major gig delivery and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is interested in everything from what it's like to work on the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his recent stories feature gig workers who have been deactivated on the apps, DoorDash hiring traditional employees to make deliveries, gig workers' use of bots, and gig work expanding into new professions, such as nursing.Alex has also written about Aldi's US expansion, Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's budget cutting. Convenience store chain Sheetz ended its "smile policy" after his reporting.Before joining Insider in September 2020, he wrote about consumer and retail companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and grew up on the Big Island.Alex lives in the Washington, DC, area, where you can find him studying ancient coins or searching for Civil War artifacts with his metal detector in his free time.Got a tip? Reach out at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (808) 854-4501.
Fast Food Restaurants Burger King More Income Inequality
On Aug. 4, McDonald's (MCD +1.16%) reported that U.S. same-store sales growth slowed to just 0.8% as "business slowed significantly" in the second quarter. CEO Chris Kempczinski pinned the shortfall on the company's own execution, and U.S. chief Joe Erlinger was replaced the same day in what the company called a "planned transition."
For a brand built on consistency, the results since last year have been anything but. That's when traffic patterns within the restaurant industry began to change as diners became more value-conscious.
At roughly 20.5 times forward earnings, the stock trades below its five-year average, pricing in modest earnings growth from here. So, is this an opportunity now for investors?
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The value prop didn't register McDonald's spent years raising prices to offset inflation. By last fall, Kempczinski acknowledged that lower-income diners had been pulling back for a couple of years. The company responded by relaunching Extra Value Meals, which drove a recovery, with U.S. same-store sales growing 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026. In April, management expanded the value platform with a new under-$3 menu and a $4 breakfast meal deal.
But the rollout gave operators too much leeway, leading a third of franchisees to price items higher than originally intended. To fund the new menu, management also pulled back on digital offers and removed the Buy One, Add One for $1 deal that loyal customers relied on. Kempczinski called the combination "a bad trade."
Traffic fell in the second quarter, even as comps rose 0.8% on higher average checks. Management said U.S. comps were "slightly negative" in July, and the timeline for a fix could run beyond the third quarter. The company also pushed its 50,000-restaurant target back a year, to 2028, citing the consumer backdrop and higher development costs.
The landlord has staying power McDonald's is a burger chain that doubles as one of the world's largest landlords. The company collects more than $10 billion in annual rent from its franchisees. It owns the buildings of roughly 80% of its 45,000-plus restaurants and the land under about 56% of them.
This real estate portfolio, in which rent tops royalties by billions of dollars a year, provides the stability that has funded 49 consecutive years of dividend increases. But the same model that delivers the rent can slow things down when the value message needs to move in lock-step.
The same week, Restaurant Brands International reported that U.S. same-store sales at Burger King jumped 8.5%, its second straight quarter of accelerating growth. In Q2, Burger King beat the U.S. burger industry by more than nine points. Four years into a rebuild of its restaurants and operations, Burger King is winning back traffic with a better Whopper.
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For McDonald's, it'll take time to get the value message aligned, but the company's rent stream amply covers the 2.7% dividend yield. Investors should watch for guest counts in the U.S. to turn positive and for details on its strategy at the company's Investor Day on Sept. 23.
At roughly 20.5 times forward earnings, the stock trades below its five-year average, offering a reasonable price for patient investors.
First National Trust Co reduced its position in shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) by 7.0% during the undefined quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,904 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 5,038 shares during the period.
Calamos Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) by 5.0% during the undefined quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 175,000 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 9,177 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC's holdings in
Associated Banc Corp lifted its position in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,071 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 5,022 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $27,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in McDonald’s by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,750 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management increased its stake in McDonald’s by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 2,120 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Richmond Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $696,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management inc. now owns 8,809 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,692,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in McDonald’s by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,102 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities analysts have commented on MCD shares. Cfra upgraded shares of McDonald’s to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler set a $286.00 target price on McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on McDonald’s from $325.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Evercore set a $320.00 price target on McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.44.
View Our Latest Analysis on MCD Insider Transactions at McDonald’s In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,198,930.88. This trade represents a 40.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total value of $769,108.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,744,760.48. This trade represents a 30.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 8,348 shares of company stock valued at $2,355,634 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
McDonald’s Trading Down 2.7% Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $265.43 on Tuesday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $260.96 and a 52 week high of $341.75. The company’s 50 day moving average is $273.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $294.81. The company has a market cap of $187.83 billion, a PE ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.41.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.13 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 EPS for the current year.
McDonald’s Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 60.44%.
Key McDonald’s News Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is taking direct aim at Starbucks with a menu strategy focused on afternoon traffic. Expanded beverage and snack offerings could help the company capture additional dayparts and improve sales momentum. McDonald’s Takes Direct Aim at Starbucks Positive Sentiment: New limited-time fall drinks and other menu items, along with the Hello Kitty and Godzilla Happy Meal promotion, could support customer visits and boost seasonal sales. McDonald’s Has 4 New Limited-Time Menu Items Positive Sentiment: An app that helps restaurants fill open shifts has reportedly reduced the cost of missed shifts at one McDonald’s location. If scalable, better staffing could improve service consistency, labor efficiency, and restaurant-level profitability. Missed shifts were costly to this McDonald’s Positive Sentiment: A bullish analyst cited a consensus price target substantially above the current trading level, arguing that MCD could offer significant upside after its recent decline. This is supportive sentiment, though targets remain estimates rather than catalysts. McDonald’s Keeps Cratering Neutral Sentiment: Xbox-related in-game rewards and other international or promotional menu stories increase brand engagement but are unlikely to materially change near-term earnings expectations. Xbox 25th Anniversary McDonald’s Rewards Neutral Sentiment: One valuation review described MCD as roughly fairly valued on a discounted-cash-flow basis, while market multiples suggested modest undervaluation. The assessment offers some downside support but acknowledges weaker recent U.S. sales growth. McDonald’s Stock Looks Fairly Valued Negative Sentiment: Commentary on McDonald’s latest earnings characterized the results and execution as underwhelming, reinforcing concerns about soft same-store sales and the effectiveness of recent initiatives. Jim Cramer Breaks Down McDonald’s Earnings Negative Sentiment: Former Taco Bell executive Greg Creed criticized McDonald’s Red Bull beverage strategy, raising questions about product-market fit and whether the new drinks will meaningfully improve afternoon demand. Taco Bell’s Former Boss Criticizes McDonald’s Red Bull Drink McDonald’s Profile (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
Featured Articles Five stocks we like better than McDonald’s Commodities Are Booming, But These 3 ETFs Tell Different Stories 3 Active ETFs Making Big Moves in August This ETF Is Outperforming by Avoiding the S&P 500’s Biggest Problem Birkenstock Beats the Skeptics—But Not on EPS Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report).
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Listen below or on the go on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
McDonald's adds energy drinks for first time. (0:15) L3Harris CEO steps down over conduct. (1:01) Big Tech has $3T in off-balance-sheet commitments. (1:29)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:
Our top story so far, from Happy Meals to Hyper Meals.
McDonald's (MCD) officially added energy drinks to its menu for the first time today with the debut of its new Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer.
The energy drink is made with Red Bull, blue raspberry flavoring and freeze-dried dragonfruit pieces. Customers can also order a reduced-sugar option with Red Bull Zero or a regular 8.4-ounce Red Bull can.
A Citi survey showed that 60% of energy beverage consumption at restaurants and coffee shops is incremental. Meanwhile, 49% of respondents said an energy drink purchased at a restaurant would replace one purchased elsewhere.
And 74% of respondents are very or somewhat interested in purchasing energy drinks from a restaurant or coffee shop, including 44% who are very interested.
Morgan Stanley thinks the energy drink platform could be a "swing factor" for McDonald's investors to watch in the second half of the year.
Among active stocks, L3Harris Technologies (LHX) is lower after Chairman and CEO Christopher Kubasik stepped down over conduct that was "not consistent" with the company's values. But L3Harris stressed the departure was not related to its financials or operations.
Wells Fargo upgraded Okta (OKTA) to Overweight from Equal Weight, citing signs of improving demand and execution in its core business.
Analyst Richard Poland said the company's focus on large enterprises, including adding capacity and expanding partnerships, is "bearing fruit."
And nine big tech companies have around $3T in off-balance-sheet commitments, mostly tied to AI infrastructure, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The paper looked at expenses at Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta (META), Oracle (ORCL), Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Broadcom (AVGO), SpaceX (SPCX) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that aren't reflected on their balance sheets but instead appear in the footnotes of their most recent securities filings.
The items include obligations under outstanding leases, long-term borrowings and purchase commitments. And they're growing faster than traditional capex.
In other news of note, popular ice cream maker Rebel Creamery has filed for bankruptcy less than one month after losing a lawsuit against rival Van Leeuwen over trademark rights.
The privately owned company built its identity around low-carb, high-fat products with no added sugar.
Van Leeuwen sued Rebel in April 2021, alleging that Rebel’s packaging copied its distinctive pastel, monochromatic look and black-script branding.
And the first-ever electric car manufactured by Ferrari (RACE) was sold at Sotheby's for $40M -- a new vehicle auction record.
Ferrari filled its entire 2026 allocation of just under 500 Ferrari Luce cars in less than two months after its May launch, despite a base price around $640K and mixed public reactions to its design.
And in the Wall Street Research Corner, space is moving from the final frontier to an institutional asset class, as falling launch costs, private investment and public-market funding reshape the orbital economy.
In a report titled "The Second Space Age," Goldman Sachs said space is becoming “a new pillar of the industrial economy,” with its own supply chains, infrastructure nodes and points of concentration where economic power can accumulate.
The global space-based economy (NASA) (UFO) is forecast to reach $1.8T by 2035. More than $55B was invested into the space ecosystem in 2025, while the first quarter of 2026 posted a record $36B of investment.
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McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD | MCD Price Prediction) currently trades at $272.83, well below the Wall Street consensus price target of $316.06. That gap works out to roughly 15.85% implied upside.
The world’s largest quick-service restaurant operator runs a 46,028-unit global system through a highly franchised model that produces operating margins near 46.5% and strong free cash flow. The stock is a Dow blue chip that dividend investors treat as defensive, so a slide of this size gets Wall Street’s attention.
One outlier has gone further. Tigress Financial’s Ivan Feinseth carries a $390 target, the highest active call on the Street, implying nearly 43% upside from here.
A Sharp U.S. Execution Miss Broke the Uptrend The catalyst was a rough Q2 26 earnings report. Global comparable sales decelerated to 1.3% from 3.8% a year earlier, U.S. comparable guest counts turned negative, and comps in China and France went red. Revenue of $7.10 billion missed the $7.13 billion consensus, and while EPS of $3.38 beat by 1.77%, SG&A surged 17%.
CEO Chris Kempczinski owned the problem, telling investors, “We don’t have a strategy problem. We simply didn’t execute at the level we needed to in the second quarter.” He pinned roughly two-thirds of the U.S. traffic miss on a botched rollout of the 10 items for under $3 EDAP menu, saying “call it a third of the system that did not execute against what we were guiding around” on pricing.
Shares are off 14.54% from the February 2026 peak near $319 and sit below both the 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
Why Tigress Financial Still Sees $390 Feinseth raised his target to $390 from $385. His thesis leans on the “Accelerating the Arches” strategy: physical unit expansion paired with digital modernization, a capital-light franchise engine with gross margins near 57%, and 50 consecutive years of dividend increases underpinning the story.
The digital flywheel is the operative catalyst. Loyalty scale hit roughly 220 million 90-day active users, driving over $40 billion in trailing-twelve-month systemwide sales across 70 markets. That is the raw material for AI-driven personalization, drive-thru optimization, and higher-frequency repeat visits.
Fixes are in motion. Skye Anderson, promoted to President of McDonald’s USA, drove 30%+ comp growth across the West Zone in her prior role. The new beverage platform is running 50% above the average check in launch markets. On October 5th, management retrains 2 million+ restaurant crew on service standards.
The broader Street is more cautious. Ratings split 4 Strong Buy, 14 Buy, 15 Hold, 1 Sell, and recent updates have been reiterations rather than fresh upgrades. The 50,000-unit goal slipped from 2027 to 2028. Even the bulls need U.S. traffic to inflect.
Peers Held Up While McDonald’s Slid Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) trades near $107.69 against a $112.23 average target, roughly 4.2% upside. The Back to Starbucks turnaround produced 7.9% comps last quarter.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) sits at $148.11 with a $173.38 target and about 17.1% upside. Taco Bell drove 7% Q2 comps and Pizza Hut is being divested.
Restaurant Brands International (NYSE:QSR) trades at $77.64 versus an $85.65 target, roughly 10.3% upside. Burger King’s Reclaim the Flame plan drove 8.5% U.S. comps.
The largest implied upside in the cluster sits with MCD, whether you take the 15.85% consensus or the 43% Tigress outlier. Peers are priced fairly. MCD is the dislocated name.
The Numbers Behind the Dislocation McDonald’s trades at $272.83 against a consensus target of $316.06 from 34 covering analysts, implying 15.85% upside. Tigress Financial’s $390 outlier implies roughly 43%. The stock is off 9.63% year to date and 9.55% over the trailing year, while the S&P 500 has gained 13.85% YTD.
Analyst ratings:
Strong Buy: 4 Buy: 14 Hold: 15 Sell: 1 MCD trades at a P/E of 23 with a 2.65% dividend yield and a free cash flow yield near 3.72%. Fundamentals are intact. Sentiment has done the moving.
My Take: Constructive, But Watch the U.S. Traffic Line The bull case holds if you believe Skye Anderson can restore U.S. execution within two or three quarters, the beverage platform scales as Germany suggests, and the October retraining tightens service enough to bring guest counts back. That is the path to the consensus target and, if traffic reaccelerates, toward Feinseth’s $390.
The bear case builds if you think the negative U.S. guest counts and stubborn China and France weakness are structural rather than execution-driven. Comps halving from 3.8% to 1.3% in one quarter is a red flag, and the slipped 50,000-unit target is a soft admission. If the QSR consumer is broken, loyalty scale alone will not rescue the multiple.
I lean cautiously constructive. Fundamentals justify the consensus target more than the current price, but Tigress’s $390 call requires clean U.S. execution snapback, and Q2 gave the market a real reason to doubt it.
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Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA lowered its position in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 320,756 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 4,401 shares during the period. McDonald’s comprises about 0.9% of Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $86,704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC increased its position in McDonald’s by 4,008.8% in the second quarter. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,230 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $22,768,000 after buying an additional 82,180 shares during the last quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. now owns 13,859 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,746,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 3,294.5% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 11,779 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,600,000 after buying an additional 11,432 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 84.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 35,510 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $10,853,000 after acquiring an additional 16,252 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Sarl grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 64,256 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $19,639,000 after acquiring an additional 6,079 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
McDonald’s News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is emphasizing lower-priced meals to win back cost-conscious customers, a potentially supportive strategy as consumers increasingly prioritize value. McDonald’s is betting on cheaper meals to win back customers Positive Sentiment: New growth initiatives include Red Bull energy drinks, additional beverages and limited-time menu items. These products could increase traffic and average spending while supporting a simpler restaurant operating model. McDonald’s bringing Red Bull drinks and new sodas to US customers Positive Sentiment: The Hello Kitty x Godzilla Happy Meal promotion may generate customer interest and family traffic when it launches, although its financial impact is likely limited. McDonald’s Announces Eight Hello Kitty x Godzilla Toys Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings showed adjusted EPS of $3.38, above expectations, while revenue of $7.10 billion was slightly below consensus. Management acknowledged inconsistent value-menu execution and excessive operational complexity, making successful implementation of the turnaround strategy critical. Five Insightful Analyst Questions From McDonald’s Q2 Earnings Call Negative Sentiment: McDonald’s is reportedly losing ground to Burger King and other low-cost alternatives, including gas-station food, as customers seek cheaper meals. Slowing second-quarter sales growth raises concerns about U.S. traffic and market share. The burger wars are heating up as McDonald’s loses ground Negative Sentiment: Erste Group lowered its fiscal 2027 EPS forecast, adding to investor concerns about earnings growth. McDonald’s FY2027 EPS Forecast Lowered Negative Sentiment: Reports that McDonald’s maintained a 515-page customer dossier could create privacy and reputational risks, though the immediate financial effect is unclear. McDonald’s customer dossier report McDonald’s Trading Down 0.1% MCD stock opened at $272.61 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $273.81 and a 200-day moving average of $295.15. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $260.96 and a 12 month high of $341.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.41.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The business had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. McDonald’s’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 EPS for the current year.
McDonald’s Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.44%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MCD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on McDonald’s from $325.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $305.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $325.44.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on MCD
Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,734 shares in the company, valued at $2,198,930.88. The trade was a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total value of $769,108.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,744,760.48. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,348 shares of company stock valued at $2,355,634 in the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
About McDonald’s (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) by 12.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,754 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after buying an additional 3,686 shares during the quarter. Diversify
Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 64,048 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after acquiring an additional 2,782 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc's
Ascentis Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 4,008.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 84,230 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,180 shares during the period. McDonald’s comprises 1.3% of Ascentis Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $22,768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new position in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 1,616.7% during the 4th quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 103 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entrust Financial LLC purchased a new stake in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Key Headlines Impacting McDonald’s Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is emphasizing lower-priced meals to win back cost-conscious customers, a potentially supportive strategy as consumers increasingly prioritize value. McDonald’s is betting on cheaper meals to win back customers Positive Sentiment: New growth initiatives include Red Bull energy drinks, additional beverages and limited-time menu items. These products could increase traffic and average spending while supporting a simpler restaurant operating model. McDonald’s bringing Red Bull drinks and new sodas to US customers Positive Sentiment: The Hello Kitty x Godzilla Happy Meal promotion may generate customer interest and family traffic when it launches, although its financial impact is likely limited. McDonald’s Announces Eight Hello Kitty x Godzilla Toys Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings showed adjusted EPS of $3.38, above expectations, while revenue of $7.10 billion was slightly below consensus. Management acknowledged inconsistent value-menu execution and excessive operational complexity, making successful implementation of the turnaround strategy critical. Five Insightful Analyst Questions From McDonald’s Q2 Earnings Call Negative Sentiment: McDonald’s is reportedly losing ground to Burger King and other low-cost alternatives, including gas-station food, as customers seek cheaper meals. Slowing second-quarter sales growth raises concerns about U.S. traffic and market share. The burger wars are heating up as McDonald’s loses ground Negative Sentiment: Erste Group lowered its fiscal 2027 EPS forecast, adding to investor concerns about earnings growth. McDonald’s FY2027 EPS Forecast Lowered Negative Sentiment: Reports that McDonald’s maintained a 515-page customer dossier could create privacy and reputational risks, though the immediate financial effect is unclear. McDonald’s customer dossier report Insider Activity at McDonald’s In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. This trade represents a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total transaction of $769,108.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 6,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,744,760.48. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,348 shares of company stock valued at $2,355,634. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In MCD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Evercore set a $320.00 target price on McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $385.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Piper Sandler set a $286.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.44.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on McDonald’s
McDonald’s Trading Up 0.1% MCD opened at $272.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $273.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $295.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.41. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $260.96 and a 12-month high of $341.75.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.
McDonald’s Announces Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.44%.
About McDonald’s (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 425,184 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,511 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.06% of McDonald’s worth $114,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCD. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in McDonald’s in the second quarter worth about $391,000. Equity Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in McDonald’s by 81.5% during the 2nd quarter. Equity Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the period. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in McDonald’s by 16.9% during the second quarter. Borer Denton & Associates Inc. now owns 13,859 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,746,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 2.7% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 67,183 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $18,778,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 30.5% during the second quarter. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. now owns 16,005 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,743 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes MCD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $295.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings cut McDonald’s from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Erste Group Bank downgraded McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $305.00 price objective on McDonald’s in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.44.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on McDonald’s
McDonald’s Price Performance Shares of MCD stock opened at $272.61 on Friday. McDonald’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $260.96 and a fifty-two week high of $341.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $273.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $295.28. The firm has a market cap of $192.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.41.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 572.06% and a net margin of 31.72%.The business had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 EPS for the current year.
McDonald’s Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 60.44%.
Insider Activity In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total value of $1,493,248.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. The trade was a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total value of $769,108.68. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,744,760.48. This trade represents a 30.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,348 shares of company stock worth $2,355,634. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.
McDonald’s News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is emphasizing lower-priced meals to win back cost-conscious customers, a potentially supportive strategy as consumers increasingly prioritize value. McDonald’s is betting on cheaper meals to win back customers Positive Sentiment: New growth initiatives include Red Bull energy drinks, additional beverages and limited-time menu items. These products could increase traffic and average spending while supporting a simpler restaurant operating model. McDonald’s bringing Red Bull drinks and new sodas to US customers Positive Sentiment: The Hello Kitty x Godzilla Happy Meal promotion may generate customer interest and family traffic when it launches, although its financial impact is likely limited. McDonald’s Announces Eight Hello Kitty x Godzilla Toys Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings showed adjusted EPS of $3.38, above expectations, while revenue of $7.10 billion was slightly below consensus. Management acknowledged inconsistent value-menu execution and excessive operational complexity, making successful implementation of the turnaround strategy critical. Five Insightful Analyst Questions From McDonald’s Q2 Earnings Call Negative Sentiment: McDonald’s is reportedly losing ground to Burger King and other low-cost alternatives, including gas-station food, as customers seek cheaper meals. Slowing second-quarter sales growth raises concerns about U.S. traffic and market share. The burger wars are heating up as McDonald’s loses ground Negative Sentiment: Erste Group lowered its fiscal 2027 EPS forecast, adding to investor concerns about earnings growth. McDonald’s FY2027 EPS Forecast Lowered Negative Sentiment: Reports that McDonald’s maintained a 515-page customer dossier could create privacy and reputational risks, though the immediate financial effect is unclear. McDonald’s customer dossier report About McDonald’s (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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Ascentis Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 23,222.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 478,103 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 476,053 shares during the period. Ascentis Wealth Management LLC owned 0.07% of McDonald’s worth $129,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tilson Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tilson Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,545 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Warner Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the second quarter valued at about $318,000. Facet Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.3% in the second quarter. Facet Wealth Inc. now owns 2,484 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 4.0% in the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 20,319 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $5,492,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in McDonald’s by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 213,282 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $57,652,000 after buying an additional 2,319 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.
Insider Buying and Selling In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total value of $1,493,248.64. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,198,930.88. The trade was a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total value of $769,108.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,744,760.48. This represents a 30.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 8,348 shares of company stock valued at $2,355,634 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MCD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $295.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler set a $286.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $325.44.
View Our Latest Research Report on McDonald’s
McDonald’s Trading Down 1.2% Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $272.28 on Friday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $260.96 and a 52 week high of $341.75. The stock has a market cap of $192.68 billion, a PE ratio of 22.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $273.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $295.44.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.06. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 512.80%. The company had revenue of $7.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.
McDonald’s Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.44%.
Key Stories Impacting McDonald’s Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:
Positive Sentiment: Nationwide menu initiatives, including new energy-focused beverages, seven menu additions, and the limited-time Hello Kitty and Godzilla Happy Meal promotion, could support traffic, customer engagement, and comparable-sales growth. McDonald’s serving up new kind of energy boost on menus nationwide Positive Sentiment: Some analysts see potential upside toward the mid-$300s if McDonald’s improves U.S. same-store sales and executes its McDonald’s NEXT strategy effectively. The company also continues to benefit from its large franchise and real-estate platform. McDonald’s stock gets fair value trim as analysts split on U.S. execution About McDonald’s (Free Report)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.
Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.
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Some diners are turning away from McDonald's and toward rivals. Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images Peter Lauwers used to swing by McDonald's to buy dinner for his family on busy weeknights.
A few years ago, though, the Michigan-based father, who runs a mobile app development company, noticed rising prices for Big Macs and Quarter Pounders. The chain also offered fewer deals he liked, such as McDonald's former buy one, get one for $1 deal on burgers. He even started keeping a spreadsheet to track price changes at his local McDonald's.
These days, Lauwers said, he and his family don't go as often.
"It's got to be a special thing," Lauwers said, adding that his family's McDonald's visits are "maybe a quarter of what we used to do."
Lauwers is among the diners looking for other places other than McDonald's to get their burger fix. The chain's most recent quarterly sales growth slowed, while rivals like Restaurant Brands International's Burger King are gaining momentum.
The shifting burger landscape comes as the economy has turned K-shaped in recent years, a situation where higher earners are spending consistently while lower earners are cutting back. That scenario has sent diners looking for value, and fast food chains that provide it are seeing the benefits.
McDonald's is still the largest fast-food chain by far, with systemwide sales of $139 billion last year. Burger King, meanwhile, had sales of $29 billion over the same period, and Wendy's reported $14 billion.
McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said on an earnings call last week that the chain "simply didn't execute at the level we needed to," especially when it came to rolling out its latest value menu focused on items that cost under $3 each.
McDonald's declined to comment beyond the CEO's recent remarks.
The economy is also playing a role, said R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at location analytics firm Placer.ai. McDonald's customers skew lower-income than many other restaurant chains, Hottovy said, meaning that many have cut back their visits as gas prices have shot up and the lingering effects of inflation have hit their budgets.
"It is a tough background environment," he said, "particularly in the burger space."
All that is causing hungry Americans to wonder: Is there a better place to get a burger?
'I'd rather go to Burger King'McDonald's stumble comes amid the rise of its historical rival Burger King, which has been investing heavily in its turnaround with restaurant revamps, technology, and value-oriented deals. In February, it projected spending $700 million on the improvements through the end of 2028.
Marketing has been part of that push, too. During the Oscars in March, Burger King ran multiple commercials admitting its mistakes, firing its King mascot, and touting an improved Whopper recipe.
A Burger King restaurant in London John Keeble/Getty Images Burger King has also benefited from the stumbles at Wendy's, which cut its dividend last week to support turnaround efforts. The Ohio-based chain reported that U.S. same-restaurant sales dropped 7% in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Burger King's second-quarter US sales increased 8.5% — a faster clip than the 0.8% growth that McDonald's posted. Whopper sales have increased 20% since the chain unveiled the new version in February.
"We're selling a lot more full-priced whoppers, and it's a great value on a standalone basis," Sami Siddiqui, CFO of Restaurant Brands International, Burger King's parent company, said on the company's earnings call last week.
Burger King also saw a boost from its $5 Duos and $7 Trios menu, which allows customers to pick two- or three-item meals from offerings like a Whopper Jr. and chicken fries.
"Providing great value across the menu with the right mix is really the formula," Siddiqui said.
That strategy contrasted with McDonald's approach, which attracted customers for years with its dollar menu. Even after eliminating it in 2013, the chain used other promotions to draw in diners, from the buy one, get one for $1 deal or meals marketed with celebrities such as Travis Scott.
A recent Business Insider survey of McDonald's customers, which attracted almost 600 responses, shows that many are frustrated with the offerings now and are looking elsewhere for their next burger.
"What was a $6 lunch is now a $10 lunch," one respondent wrote, adding that they "skip Mickey's now" in favor of other options nearby, including Wendy's and Taco Bell.
"I'd rather go to Burger King," another wrote. "The prices are the same, more or less, but it tastes better, it's faster, and the burgers are bigger."
Chili's is making headway in the burger wars : Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Chili's and Buc-ee's join the burger warsMcDonald's isn't just competing with other fast-food chains these days.
There's Chili's, the sit-down restaurant chain that has turned around its financial results over the last two years. Part of its strategy: Offer burgers and other menu items that compete on ingredients and price with McDonald's, such as the Big QP Burger, which looks suspiciously like a Quarter Pounder.
"The fact that you even put Chili's as a rival to McDonald's — we would've never said that before," said Mike Perry, founder and chief creative officer at Tavern, an agency that works with restaurant and hospitality clients.
Many convenience stores, such as Sheetz, Wawa, and Buc-ee's, have also become more reputable for their fast food, Placer.ai's Hottovy said. "The stigma with some of these convenience store operators has gone by the wayside," he said.
Lauwers, the father in Michigan, said he's cooking more at home instead of going to McDonald's. Some nights, he said, he even makes his own homemade chicken nuggets using an air fryer and forms his own burger patties.
It doesn't save time, but it does save money, he said.
"It's a lot less, even with ground beef prices being kind of crazy," Lauwers said.
McDonald's has previously seen dips in visits followed by rebounds spurred by a new promotion that draws customers in again, Hottovy said.
"They almost always bounce back," he said.
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Alex Bitter is a senior retail reporter covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His work focuses major gig delivery and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is interested in everything from what it's like to work on the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his recent stories feature gig workers who have been deactivated on the apps, DoorDash hiring traditional employees to make deliveries, gig workers' use of bots, and gig work expanding into new professions, such as nursing.Alex has also written about Aldi's US expansion, Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's budget cutting. Convenience store chain Sheetz ended its "smile policy" after his reporting.Before joining Insider in September 2020, he wrote about consumer and retail companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and grew up on the Big Island.Alex lives in the Washington, DC, area, where you can find him studying ancient coins or searching for Civil War artifacts with his metal detector in his free time.Got a tip? Reach out at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (808) 854-4501.
McDonald's (MCD -1.25%) is making a bold bet that new, innovative drinks can spur much-needed growth. The fast-food giant has been testing new beverages in select markets and will introduce even more interesting options this fall. Most notably, a new line of energy drinks in collaboration with Red Bull will hit stores in mid-August.
Unfortunately, I do not believe the novelty drinks are enough to solve the stagnant-growth crisis facing McDonald's and many of its peers in the industry, as well as across the broader consumer discretionary sector.
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McDonald's is in the middle of its turnaround, internally called >NEXT. The strategy aims to simplify operations while adding new and improved menu items. So far, results have been mixed, but analysts remain cautiously optimistic.
Beverages are a worthwhile focus for the fast-food giant. They are high-margin menu items, but drinks alone won't cut it. Consumers are extraordinarily value-conscious and price-sensitive. Value meal promotions have helped increase sales, and this is really where McDonald's can make a difference, in my opinion.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Fast food prices are no longer the bargain they once were. While gimmicky drinks and promotions are temporary fixes, consumers really just want to know they are getting a tasty meal for a reasonable price. This, combined with cost cutting and increased operational efficiency, will really move the needle. The novelty of a new energy drink will wear off quickly, but giving customers a substantial meal for their hard-earned dollars won't.
McDonald's stock remains a decent purchase for long-term investors, despite challenging macroeconomic conditions. The company is durable and globally dominant. It also generates significant cash, paying a solid dividend of $7.44 per share annually. That's approximately a 2.75% yield.
I'm confident McDonald's can navigate near-term struggles and return to its roots as an affordable option for hungry customers on the go, but it may not happen this year or next.
Catie Hogan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $320 calls on McDonald's and short January 2028 $340 calls on McDonald's. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
McDonald’s compiled a 515-page dossier on one of its loyalty-program customers — using years of fast-food purchases to predict how often he would return, how much he would spend and even what he was likely to order.
Reece Rogers, a journalist for Condé Nast-owned Wired magazine, discovered the extensive digital profile after requesting the personal data McDonald’s had stored about him.
The file revealed a “Minority Report”-style trove of predictions about his future behavior, including that he would visit McDonald’s 2.16 times over the next six weeks and spend an average of $13.49 per order.
The fast-food giant calculated Rogers would spend a total of $29.15 over that six-week stretch, according to the report.
McDonald’s loyalty program collects customer information that can be used to build profiles and make predictions about consumers, according to experts who spoke to The Post. Anadolu via Getty Images
The dossier ranked a Large Diet Coke as Rogers’ most relevant product based on his past behavior, followed by a Spicy Snack Wrap and The Grinch McShaker Fry Large.
It also slotted his eating habits into oddly specific behavioral categories, including “Food-Led Afternoon Snack” and “On the Go Lunch in a Rush.”
McDonald’s also assigned Rogers a “Customer Attrition Likelihood” of zero — suggesting the company’s algorithm saw little chance that he would stop patronizing the Golden Arches.
The massive file contained a detailed history of Rogers’ transactions, the offers McDonald’s sent him and the loyalty points he accumulated.
It even kept track of every time he scanned a code while participating in the chain’s Monopoly sweepstakes — along with the prize he received.
WIRED reporter Reece Rogers. Reece Rogers / LinkedIn
“McDonald’s takes data privacy and security seriously, and we take robust steps to safeguard customer information,” a McDonald’s spokesperson told Wired.
“Like many digital loyalty programs, we use information such as past purchases to provide a more engaging, personal customer experience—like delivering the most relevant deals, offers and messages,” the spokesperson added.
“Our customers continue to have privacy choices available to them as outlined in our privacy statement.”
Rogers said he understood when he joined the loyalty program that McDonald’s would engage in some form of data tracking.
But he said he hadn’t grasped the extent to which the information could be aggregated and fed into algorithms designed to forecast his future purchases.
Rogers requested the data McDonald’s had collected about him — and received a 515-page file detailing his habits and predicting his future behavior. @thiccreese / Instagram
After poring over the dossier, Rogers returned to McDonald’s Privacy Rights Center and requested that the company delete the information it had stored about him.
He also vowed to quit McDonald’s — in part to see whether he could prove its algorithm wrong.
The Post has sought comment from Rogers and McDonald’s.
Stephanie T. Nguyen, a senior fellow at Columbia Law School’s Center for Law and the Economy and former chief technologist at the Federal Trade Commission, told The Post she was not surprised by the breadth of the McDonald’s dossier, given what the company publicly says about its data practices.
“If you study the McDonald’s nearly 10,000-word privacy policy, it notes how the company can monitor a customer’s precise geolocation, their browsing history, their app interactions, and their social media activity,” Nguyen said.
A Large Diet Coke topped McDonald’s ranking of products most relevant to Rogers, followed by a Spicy Snack Wrap and The Grinch McShaker Fry Large. NurPhoto via Getty Images
“They also publicly say they use this data to train its AI models and build profiles on its customers,” she added.
Nguyen said she was particularly struck by the types of characteristics McDonald’s says it can predict about consumers.
“They say that they can predict a consumer’s preferences, their characteristics, their psychological trends, their predispositions, their behavior, their attitudes,” Nguyen said. “They even say intelligence abilities and aptitudes.”
“How is McDonald’s leveraging these psychological profiles about your intelligence and aptitudes to drive repeat customer engagement over time?” she asked.
Joseph Turow, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and author of “The Problem with Personalization,” said the 515-page dossier “boggles the mind. I mean, that’s AI going crazy.”
McDonald’s says it uses information such as past purchases to provide loyalty customers with more relevant deals, offers and messages. Photothek via Getty Images
Still, Turow added that it’s emblematic of a much broader shift toward increasingly individualized marketing, with consumers mostly unaware of the extent of the profiling that’s occurring behind the scenes.
“We ought to be concerned globally. This is one case,” Turow said. “Imagine this going on in, you know, hundreds and hundreds of retailers across the United States, right? This is not a one-off.”
Turow described the broader trend as “extreme personalization,” in which companies seek to develop increasingly individualized relationships with their customers.
“McDonald’s goal is to make its relationship with you so personalized that you will see yourself in their relationship with you,” he said.
Amidst weak comparable sales growth in its core U.S. market, shares of McDonald's have declined by ~20% from their all-time high. About 56% of the land and 80% of MCD's nearly 50,000 buildings are directly owned by McDonald's. On a trailing 12-month basis, MCD is trading at a free cash flow yield of ~4.0%, which is one of the highest since at least the early 2000s.
Key Takeaways McDonald's delayed its 50,000-store target to 2028 while prioritizing returns and quality over unit growth.U.S. comparable sales rose just 0.8% as value execution and marketing challenges weighed on traffic.McDonald's still plans roughly 2,600 gross restaurant openings in 2026, its fastest growth period yet. McDonald's Corporation (MCD - Free Report) is taking a slightly more measured approach to restaurant expansion, pushing its goal of reaching 50,000 locations globally to 2028 from the end of 2027. The shift may raise concerns that growth is losing momentum, but management characterized the move as a disciplined adjustment rather than a change in its long-term expansion strategy.
Management said cumulative inflation in development costs and a more pressured consumer environment prompted a review of the restaurant pipeline. The company is prioritizing attractive returns and quality of new locations over simply adding units. Importantly, McDonald’s still expects to open roughly 2,600 gross restaurants in 2026, which management described as the fastest period of restaurant growth in its history.
The more notable growth concern currently lies in the U.S. business. Second-quarter U.S. comparable sales increased just 0.8%, as inconsistent execution of value offerings, reduced digital promotions and an overly crowded marketing calendar weighed on traffic. U.S. comparable sales were also slightly negative in July, indicating that the recovery could take time.
Still, management remains confident in the growth opportunity. New beverages are generating encouraging incremental traffic and higher checks, while the upcoming McDonald’s > NEXT strategy is designed to improve food quality, hospitality and restaurant productivity.
QSR and YUM Maintain Aggressive Restaurant GrowthMcDonald’s is moderating its expansion pace, but competitors continue to pursue substantial unit growth. The owner of Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, Restaurant Brands International (QSR - Free Report) targets 5% or more net restaurant growth by 2028. Restaurant Brands International’s strategy combines new-store development with investments in existing locations, particularly Burger King’s U.S. turnaround program.
Through KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill, Yum! Brands (YUM - Free Report) has an even larger global footprint, with more than 63,000 restaurants across 155 countries and territories. Yum! Brands’ franchise-heavy model continues to support international expansion and provides significant scope for adding units.
Against this backdrop, McDonald’s decision to move its 50,000-store milestone to 2028 reflects a more selective approach rather than an abandonment of growth. Management emphasized that inflation-driven development costs and softer consumer conditions require greater focus on returns. With about 2,600 gross openings still expected in 2026, MCD’s expansion engine remains active.
MCD’s Price Performance, Valuation & EstimatesMcDonald’s shares have lost 17.6% in the past six months, underperforming the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry, the broader Retail and Wholesale sector and the S&P 500 index.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of its forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio, MCD is trading at 20.23, down from the industry’s 21.65.
MCD P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD’s earnings estimates for 2026 and 2027 have trended downward in the past 30 days. The revised estimates for 2026 and 2027 imply year-over-year growth of 5.6% and 8.1%, respectively.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
MCD currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
McDonald's (MCD -0.89%) is a leader in the fast-food industry, and it's an iconic brand all over the world. The challenge, however, is that when a business reaches a massive size, it becomes much harder for it to grow quickly. And the company's recent results highlight that, as they were fairly modest.
Can McDonald's still be a top stock to buy right now, or are its best days behind it?
Image source: Getty Images.
Comparable sales were light in the company's most recent quarter Last week, McDonald's reported its latest quarterly results for the period ending June 30. The numbers weren't great. While its total sales rose by 5% year over year, its comparable store sales growth rate was much more modest, coming in at just 1.3%. And in the U.S. market, it was just 0.8%.
Comparable store sales look at how much revenue the company is generating from existing locations versus the same locations in the prior-year period. Thus, it's reflective of the organic growth the business is generating, and it excludes the boost it gets from opening new stores.
What's concerning is that in April, the company expanded its value offerings, including the launch of a new under $3 menu, and that hasn't shown to be a huge catalyst, at least not in its early stages, anyway. At a time when consumers are looking to save on anything and everything, it's a move that investors may have expected to be a catalyst for the fast-food business. But that hasn't proven to be the case at all.
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McDonald's stock can still be a good buy, but it may not be ideal for growth investors McDonald's has a highly profitable and scalable business. But generating meaningful, organic growth may prove to be a challenge in a highly competitive fast-food industry. Rising prices in recent years don't make things any easier, either.
The stock can still be a solid option for income investors as it yields 2.7%, which is a far higher rate than the S&P 500 average of only 1.1%. But for growth investors, there are many other, better growth stocks to buy than McDonald's. Last year, its annual revenue totaled $26.9 billion, which rose by less than 4% from the previous year. It may still generate modest growth in the long run, but growth investors may be underwhelmed with its performance. In the past five years, the stock has risen by just 16%, while the S&P 500 has increased by 75% in value.
David Jagielski, CPA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $320 calls on McDonald's and short January 2028 $340 calls on McDonald's. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Restaurant Brands International continues to outperform McDonald's in earnings growth and market share gains. MCD maintains a significant valuation premium—over 25% on FCF and 17% on forward PE—despite QSR's superior business momentum. QSR posted 8.5% US same-store sales growth versus MCD's 0.8%, reaffirming its 8% adjusted earnings growth target for 2026.
If you want passive income from stocks, you don't need to chase the highest yields. You need businesses that keep finding ways to grow, protect their brands, and raise payouts without stressing the balance sheet.
To me, three consumer-facing companies stand out right now: Procter & Gamble (PG -0.80%), McDonald's (MCD -0.64%), and Coca‑Cola (KO +0.23%).
Image source: Getty Images.
Procter & Gamble looks boring at first glance, which is exactly what makes it unstoppable as a dividend stock. In April 2026, the board raised the quarterly dividend by 3% to $1.0885 per share, marking the company's 70th consecutive year of dividend increases and its 136th straight year of paying one at all.
Underneath that streak is a portfolio of daily use products -- Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Oral‑B -- that people buy no matter what headlines are doing. P&G expects to return about $10 billion in dividends and roughly $5 billion in buybacks in fiscal 2026, funded by strong cash generation rather than financial engineering. The combination of slow but steady earnings growth, disciplined capital allocation, and a culture that clearly cares about the dividend makes this a core income holding rather than a speculative yield play.
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2. McDonald's: cash registers and growing payouts McDonald's is another consumer giant that quietly rewards patient shareholders. As of August 2026, the company pays an annual dividend of $7.44 per share, yielding around 2.7%, and has raised that payout for 49 consecutive years. The most recent quarterly dividend was $1.86 per share in June, unchanged from earlier in the year but up from $1.77 in late 2025. Over the past five years, McDonald's has grown its dividend at an average rate of about 7% to 8% annually, with a payout ratio hovering around 60%.
The underlying business might be even stronger than the numbers suggest. McDonald's has leaned into digital ordering, delivery, and menu innovation to drive comparable sales higher without massive new unit growth. That operating leverage turns modest revenue growth into meaningful increases in earnings and cash flow, which, in turn, support those regular dividend raises.
For income investors, this is the kind of consumer brand that can fund the payout from everyday transactions while still reinvesting in the business.
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3. Coca‑Cola: a classic income engine Finally, Coca‑Cola remains one of the cleanest dividend stories in the consumer goods sector. In 2026, the company has been paying a quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share, on track for an annualized payout of about $2.12 and a yield in the mid‑2% range. The April and July payments came in at $0.53, up from $0.51 a year earlier, extending a streak of more than 50 years of dividend increases.
Coke's appeal is simple. It owns a family of global beverage brands, sells billions of servings every day, and has structured its business to collect royalties and concentrate margins, while bottlers shoulder much of the capital intensity. That asset‑light model translates into strong, recurring cash flows that comfortably fund the dividend and leave room for share repurchases and selective acquisitions.
For investors, Coca-Cola is one of those names where the dividend feels like a core feature of the business, not an afterthought.
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How to think about these three None of these yields will make you rich quickly. What they offer is reliability: decades‑long records of raising payouts, reasonable payout ratios, and consumer franchises that have proven they can adapt. If you are building a passive income stream, anchoring it in companies like Procter & Gamble, McDonald's, and Coca‑Cola gives you a base of dividends that are more likely to keep arriving through recessions, inflation spikes, and changing tastes -- the kind of income you can plan around rather than worry about.
