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McDonald's (MCD) Flat As Market Sinks: What You Should Know

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McDonald's (MCD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $273.40, making no change from the previous trading session. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.12%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.05%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain had gained 0.16% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 7.5%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.93%.

McDonald's will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.43, up 8.97% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.67 billion, down 5.57% from the year-ago period.

MCD's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $9.91 per share and revenue of $22.91 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +6.79% and -1.33%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for McDonald's. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.01% higher within the past month. McDonald's is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, McDonald's is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 27.58. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 24, which means McDonald's is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that MCD currently has a PEG ratio of 3.2. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Retail - Restaurants industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.1 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 95, putting it in the top 38% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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