Earlier today, Dunkin’ Brands Group (DNKN; Neutral) reported first-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.67, five cents above our $0.62 forecast and consensus of $0.62.
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, McDonald’s U.S. began promoting a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe (as well as the Quarter Pounder with Cheese Bacon). One aspect we like of these burgers is that they are relatively simple operationally, with (for example) SKUs that are already found in the restaurants.
We briefly note the following tidbits regarding Wendy’s (WEN; Neutral), privately-held Luckin Coffee, and Generation Z’s favorite restaurant concepts: