McDonald’s Corp (MCD)

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McDonald’s plans to release its Q1 earnings before the market open on Thursday, April 29th, to be followed that day by the related earnings release conference call. For Q1E, we retain our existing McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales forecast of +12.2%, which lies +190 basis points above current sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of +10.3%. Our Q1E EPS estimate remains at $1.86, five cents above consensus of $1.81.

McDonald’s likely will release its Q1 2021 earnings in late April. How do MCD shares tend to trade heading into earnings, and the day of an earnings release? To answer those questions, we compiled data for the 24 prior earnings releases from McDonald’s, examining the stock’s absolute performance, and performance relative to the S&P 500, for two time periods: (1) the week ahead of the scheduled earnings release, and (2) the day of the earnings […]

With this report, we increase our Q1E U.S. same-store sales forecast for McDonald’s by +190 basis points, to +12.2%. According to Consensus Metrix data, this becomes the new “high on the sell-side forecast.” Sell-side consensus is presently at +9.7%. During its January 28th conference call, McDonald’s stated that “Turning to January trends, in the U.S., sales comps continue to be strong and are expected to be up high-single digits, with continued growth across all dayparts […]

In this report we examine the bull and bear cases regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy, $220.46). While we maintain our Buy rating on MCD — it continues to be our top large-cap restaurant-stock pick — it is good for investors interested in MCD to be aware of the bull and bear cases surrounding the stock, no matter what our rating on the shares is. Key parts of the bullish point of view are: (1) benefits from […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s reported $1.70 in adjusted Q4 EPS, lower than our $1.72 forecast and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $1.77. Fourth-quarter Company-Operated Restaurant Expenses/Sales by CompanyOperated Restaurants came in at 85.2%, worse than our 82.8% estimate. McDonald’s remarks that there were “Higher restaurant closing costs for the quarter and year of $30 million and $68 million, respectively, in both the International Operated Markets and in the U.S. The U.S. costs were primarily […]

Today we publish part 2 of 2 of the January 2021 edition of our proprietary McDonald’s Franchisee Survey. Much of this report focuses on relations between U.S. franchisees and corporate. As we noted in the part 1 report published late last week, we asked our franchisee respondents to quantify the current relationship between franchisees and McDonald’s Corporation, using a scale of one to five, with 1=Poor and 5=Excellent. The average response we received was 1.41 […]

With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Burger Index for Q4E to +4.5%. This figure is based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during October, November, and December. While we believe that sector same-store sales were fairly similar in each of these three months, it appears that November was the best of the three, and December the worst of the three, although all three ended up […]

With this report, we lower our Q4E 2020 EPS estimate for McDonald’s by -24 cents, to $1.72. Our change reflects two factors: (1) reductions in our Q4E samestore sales forecasts for both the International Operated Markets and International Developmental Licensed Markets business segments, and (2) what we believe is an improved understanding of G&A expenses slated for Q4 (leading us to bump up our Q4E G&A projection to about $755 million. In terms of Q4E […]

Based on our data-driven checks, we believe that same-store sales for U.S. chain restaurants in the casual dining, family dining, and fine dining segments are all showing sequential deceleration for the first half of November relative to fullOctober. This new trend follows 5-6 consecutive months of either sequentially improving full-service same-store sales (or at least not meaningfully deteriorating sequential same-store sales). For U.S. chain casual dining, first half of November same-store sales appear to be […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s reported adjusted Q3 EPS of $2.22, ahead of our $1.92 forecast and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $1.92. Currencies helped Q3 EPS by +3 cents. Factors that drive the EPS beat include: (1) better-than-expected company-level restaurant operating margins (17.9% actual vs. 15.8% projected), a favorable tax rate (20.5% actual vs. our 24.0% estimate), and (3) better-than-expected SG&A/Revenues (9.8% actual vs. our 10.4% forecast). Management comments that October U.S. same-store sales […]

Today we publish part 2 of 2 of our proprietary McDonald’s Franchisee Survey. Much of this report focuses on the breakfast daypart, which has lagged behind in recovery over the last 3-5 months not just for McDonald’s, but for the restaurant industry in general. We asked our McDonald’s franchisee respondents to name the restaurant concept that they view as their most significant competitor during the breakfast daypart. While privately-held Chick-fil-A was named most frequently, the […]

McDonald’s plans to release its full-Q3 earnings before the market open on Monday, November 9th, to be followed that day by the related earnings release conference call and a Virtual Investor Update. McDonald’s has already released its Q3 samestore sales results, including a U.S. advance of +4.6%. Ahead of November 9th, and based on the responses from our latest proprietary McDonald’s Franchisee Survey, we raise our full-Q4E U.S. same-store sales projection by +110 basis points […]

For the second time in a month, we raise our Q3E same-store sales forecast for McDonald’s U.S. — this time by +60 basis points, to +3.6%. This is based on robust same-store sales from the second half of September, thanks largely to: (1) a limitedtime promotional tie-in with rapper Travis Scott (which launched September 8th), and (2) a limited-time offer featuring Spicy Chicken McNuggets (which launched September 16th). Both of these promotions did so well […]

With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Burger Index for Q3E to +3.6%. This figure is based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during July 2020 and August 2020, as well as our best guess for what September 2020 is bringing us. The approximate monthly figures we use are +2% to +3% for July 2020, +3% to +4% for August 2020, and approximately +6% for September […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy, $199.26) reported Q2 EPS of $0.65, short of our $0.85 forecast and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $0.73. There was a $31 million one-time payment to distribution centers for obsolete inventory, and an increase in bad debt reserve (related to rents and royalty deferrals) of $45 million. By our math, these items combined represent about 8 cents on an EPS basis. For more info see today’s 8-K at: […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s (MCD; Neutral, $183.93) reported Q1 EPS of $1.47, short of our $1.52 forecast and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $1.55. SG&A/Revenues of 12.5% (versus our 11.7% projection) accounts for the difference between Q1 EPS and our EPS estimate. However, part of this SG&A relates to non-recurring costs, such as $40 million for the company’s cancelation of its biannual worldwide convention, and $20 million for “payments of contractual obligations as [McDonald’s] […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) reported Q4 EPS (excluding an $0.11 worth of income tax benefits due to new regulations) of $1.97, below our $2.00 forecast, but one cent above sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $1.96. Closely-watched U.S. same-store sales rose by +5.1% in Q4, nearly matching our +5.0% projection, and coming in 40 basis points above consensus of +4.7%. Fourthquarter same-store sales for International Operated (+6.2% actual vs. our +5.5% estimate and […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s (MCD; Neutral) reported third-quarter EPS of $2.11, falling short of our $2.21 forecast and sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $2.21. Tax rate accounts for $0.02-$0.03 of the difference between actual and our forecast. Other factors behind the EPS miss include lower-thananticipated revenues from franchisee/affiliates ($3.014 billion actual vs. $3.090 billion projected), weaker-than-projected franchised margins (81.4% actual vs. 81.9% projected), lower-than-anticipated Other Operating Income ($49.5 million actual vs. $66.2 million estimated), […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) reported adjusted Q2 EPS of $2.05, one cent short of our $2.06 forecast, but in line with sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of $2.05. However, investor eyes may be more focused on the robust Q2 same-store sales trends across the board. In the U.S., Q2 same-store sales rose by +5.7%, surpassing our +5.1% forecast and sell-side consensus of +4.4% (although buyside expectations were roughly +5%). We would not be […]

Not too long ago, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) filed its 400+ page Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) for 2019. In this report, we cite some of the highlights from that document following our review of it, including our review of it in comparison to last year’s Franchise Disclosure Document. For example, for the 11,761 domestic traditional McDonald’s restaurants that were open for at least one year as of December 31, 2018, their median sales volume was $2,764,000 […]

With this report, we increase our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Burger Index for Q2E by +100 basis points to +3.3%. This figure is based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during April 2019 and the beginning of May 2019. As we noted in our May 6th report “April Burger-Sector Sales Trends Compared to March…” we believe that April 2019 was the best month for U.S. quick-service burgersector same-store sales […]

Given our latest data-driven checks, we raise our Q2E same-store sales forecast for McDonald’s U.S. by 60 basis points, to +4.6%, placing us 60 basis points above consensus (according to Consensus Metrix data) and also as the second-highest forecast in this regard on the sell-side. We believe McDonald’s continues to benefit for a number of reasons, some of which we pointed to in our May 6th report “April Burger-Sector Sales Trends Compared to March…” — […]

African Swine Fever (ASF) is spreading rapidly not only in China — where it seems as many hogs have been culled from herds in that country as there are born in the entire United States in any given year — but also in other parts of Asia, not to mention parts of Europe. Based on our conversations with suppliers to the restaurant industry, and also with privately-held restaurant companies, we believe that commodity-cost risks over […]

In our April 8th report “Tidbits re: Burger-Sector Same-Store Sales Trends, and SBUX,” we noted that “With March 2019 now in the rear-view mirror, we are pleasantly surprised that this month appears to have turned out very well for burger-sector same-store sales. In fact, based on our proprietary, data-driven checks, the midsingle digit number put up by U.S. quick-service burger chains for March 2019 looks like the best month in this regard since February 2016, […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) reported its Q1 EPS of $1.72, above our $1.71 forecast, but below the sell-side consensus of $1.75. But the real story is that U.S. same-store sales rose by an unexpectedly robust +4.5%, easily surpassing our above-consensus +3.2% projection. McDonald’s attributes the strong showing to “successful promotions, including the Bacon Event, the 2 for $5 Mix and Match deal, and Donut Sticks, as well as a net positive impact from our […]

Based on the results of our latest proprietary McDonald’s Franchisee Survey, we retain our Q1E U.S. same-store sales forecast at +3.2%. In the previous 80 iterations of the McDonald’s Franchisee Survey, the survey result has been within 200 basis points of the McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales number reported shortly thereafter 73 times (91.3% of the time), and within 100 basis points of the McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales number reported shortly thereafter 56 times (70.0% of […]

So far this year, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) U.S. same-store sales seem to be meaningfully outpacing those of its quick-service burger rivals. Why is this? How sustainable is it? While there are multiple reasons for McDonald’s success so far this year — for example, we believe fresh-beef Quarter Pounders and Quarter Pounder line extensions have sold rather well — this report focuses on improvements that we believe have been made in terms of average speed at […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding pizza-sector market-share trends in the U.S., McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), and privately-held Luckin Coffee: * U.S. PIZZA-SECTOR MARKET-SHARE TRENDS. In the U.S., the quick-service pizza segment generated $42.95 billion in sales during 2018, according to data from Technomic. This represents year-over-year growth of +3.5%. Putting these numbers in context, the overall U.S. restaurant industry totaled about $556.36 billion in 2018 sales, up by +3.6% year-over-year. (FYI, Technomic projects U.S. […]

Based on our latest proprietary, data-driven checks, and what appears to have been a better-than-expected March, we tweak our full-Q1E same-store sales forecast for McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) U.S. business upward by +20 basis points, to +3.2%. This places us 30 basis points above the current sell-side consensus of +2.9%. In March, we believe core menu items — including fresh-beef Quarter Pounders (both with and without bacon) — sold quite well. Toward the end of March, […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), Domino’s (DPZ; Buy), and KFC (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]): * McDONALD’S. The Chicago Tribune reports that “Representatives of a large company have met with village engineers as part of a due diligence process leading to the possible purchase of the McDonald’s campus property in Oak Brook [Illinois], Village President Gopal Lalmalani said Thursday. Lalmalani stopped short of identifying the company interested in purchasing […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), Dunkin’ (owned by Dunkin’ Brands Group [DNKN; Neutral]), and more Dunkin’: * McDONALD’S. Skift table reports that for February 2019 “McDonald’s led all [restaurant] companies in [TV] advertising dollars spent at $48 million, less than what the chain allocated in January. Taco Bell (second on the list) cut its TV advertising funding by nearly half, likely due to Grubhub picking up most of the tab […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding Domino’s (DPZ; Buy), Dunkin’ (owned by Dunkin’ Brands Group [DNKN; Neutral]), and McDonald’s (MCD; Buy): * DOMINO’S. Kalinowski Equity Research is hosting a headquarters visit to Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Wednesday, May 22nd. Management attendees will include CEO Ritch Allison and EVP & CFO Jeff Lawrence. * KALINOWSKI’S TAKE: This will be an excellent opportunity for Q&A with Mr. Allison (who became CEO of […]

We revise our Q1E tax-rate projection to 28.5% (from 24.8%). This change has the effect of lowering our Q1E and our full-year 2019E EPS estimates by $0.09 each, to $1.71 and $8.01, respectively. (Our full-year 2020E EPS forecast remains unchanged at $8.75.) In its most recent 10-K, McDonald’s notes: Read the Full Report

This past September, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) announced that it would reorganize its business into three segments (U.S., International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets). Much more recently, McDonald’s provided some historical information — including same-store sales information — about these new business segments. Armed with this new information, with this report we introduce our same-store sales projections for 2019E and 2020E for the International Operated Markets and International Developmental Licensed Markets segments. As of […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) and Taco Bell (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]): * McDONALD’S. The latest blog post of the National Ownership Association — the first-ever independent association of McDonald’s U.S. franchisees — is worth reading in full: Read the Full Report

With this report, we introduce our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Burger Index for Q1E of +2.5%. This figure is based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during January 2019 and the first half of February 2019. January 2019 appears to have been strong, despite some weather issues toward the end of the month. In fact, January 2019 same-store sales for the burger sector may have been almost as good […]

Based on our checks related to January and the first half of February, we tweak upward our U.S. same-store sales forecast for Q1E by +30 basis points, to +3.3%. This places us 40 basis points above sell-side consensus (according to Consensus Metrix) of +2.9%. We are encouraged by what we hear about Q1 so far, particularly given that weather has been a challenge at some points over January/February. McDonald’s initiatives — including fresh-beef quarter-pound beef […]

Regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), we have learned that a co-founder of the National Owners Association (NOA) — the first-ever independent association of McDonald’s U.S. franchisees — has been elected the new chairman of the NFLA (National Franchise Leadership Association), which if we understand correctly is a reformulation of McDonald’s decades-old NLC (National Leadership Council). Read the Full Report

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), more McDonald’s, Taco Bell (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]), privately-held Chick-filA, and privately-held Subway: * McDONALD’S. Canadian Business Franchise reports that “McDonald’s Canada now allows customers to collect McCafé Mobile Rewards through its McD’s app with the purchase of any hot beverage. The new McCafé mobile rewards will not replace the on-cup loyalty program. Customers can collect mobile rewards by scanning the McCafé mobile […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding Taco Bell (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]), Domino’s (DPZ; Buy), and McDonald’s (MCD; Buy): * TACO BELL. Breaking news! We have learned that Taco Bell is testing a taco with BACON used as the taco shell. One of our industry sources who was fortunate enough to try it indicates that it was similar to Taco Bell’s popular Naked Chicken Chalupa, but with bacon instead of chicken. Taco […]

Earlier today, McDonald’s reported adjusted Q4 EPS of $1.97, ahead of our $1.91 forecast and sell-side consensus of $1.89. We calculate that the adjusted tax rate was about 19.1%, versus our 24.5% forecast and consensus of 24.4%. If the adjusted tax rate had matched consensus, then by our math adjusted EPS would have come in closer to $1.84. McDonald’s points out the following long-term targets in today’s 8-K: Read the Full Report

Recently, the National Owners Association (NOA) — the first-ever independent franchisee association for McDonald’s U.S. — surveyed McDonald’s U.S. franchisees regarding delivery and the economics surrounding delivery. In this report, you will find the results of that survey. Of the 781 respondents to the question “Are you satisfied with the economics where they stand?” only 23 (3%) responded “Yes,” with the other 758 (97%) responding “No.” Of the 763 respondents to the question “Is delivery […]

With this report, we update our data-driven Kalinowski Quick-Service Burger Index for Q4E from +1.2% to +1.8%. Our key takeaway: we believe that U.S. quick-service burgers chains in aggregate enjoyed their best same-store sales month during December 2018 since February 2016. The 60 basis-point increase in this index of ours is based on our latest proprietary checks/data as regards same-store sales performance for this segment during the last half of November and all of December. […]

Based on the results of our latest proprietary McDonald’s Franchisee Survey, we adjust our Q4E U.S. same-store sales forecast upward by +40 basis points, to +2.6%. In the previous 79 iterations of the McDonald’s Franchisee Survey, the survey result has been within 200 basis points of the McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales number reported shortly thereafter 72 times (91.1% of the time), and within 100 basis points of the McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales number reported shortly […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding Taco Bell (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]), Domino’s (DPZ; Buy), and McDonald’s (MCD; Buy): * TACO BELL. Following the return of Nacho Fries to Taco Bell on January 24th — which we first wrote about in our September 12, 2018 report “Tidbits re: Taco Bell (owned by YUM), SBUX, and MCD,” although we had indicated a January 31st return at that time — we look for Rattlesnake […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), Applebee’s (owned by Dine Brands [DIN; Buy]), and Wendy’s (WEN; Neutral): * McDONALD’S. Ad Age reports that “To borrow a line from McDonald’s, some U.S. franchisees just aren’t ‘lovin’ it’ when it comes to working with the chain’s media agency, OMD. The Omnicom Group shop won an account handling media buying across the U.S. for local co-operative groups of McDonald’s operators in 2017. OMD also […]

Following our checks for McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) Foundational business segment for Q4E, we retain our +6.0% same-store sales projection, modestly above sellside consensus. Although McDonald’s Japan — the largest part of the Foundational segment — likely had its worst month of 2018 in terms of same-store sales in October 2018, we believe a robust December 2018 helped McDonald’s Japan post a midsingle digit comp for Q4 2018 that was very similar to its Q3 2018 […]

Recently, McDonald’s (MCD; Buy) National Leadership Council (NLC) — a group that represents McDonald’s franchisees — hired a top consulting firm to conduct an online poll “with 1,154 McDonald’s Owner Operators [franchisees].” We have obtained a copy of the detailed survey results, and include them in this report. As the first of the figures in our report indicates “There are two primary issues Owner Operators want addressed: Economics and Operating Platform. This stems from the […]

We briefly note the following tidbits regarding McDonald’s (MCD; Buy), Starbucks (SBUX; Neutral), and Taco Bell (owned by Yum Brands [YUM; Buy]): * McDONALD’S. The National Owners Association (NOA) — the first-ever independent franchisee association for McDonald’s U.S. — sent out an e-mail at roughly 4 AM on Sunday, January 6th with the Subject line “Urgent NOA Update.” The contents of the e-mail are in the following figures: Read the Full Report