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

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In the latest trading session, McDonald's (MCD - Free Report) closed at $295.22, marking a -0.13% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.85%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.14%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 5.61%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain had gained 2.49% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 3.78%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.18%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from McDonald's as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 27, 2023. On that day, McDonald's is projected to report earnings of $2.75 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.84%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.2 billion, up 8.4% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.06 per share and revenue of $24.97 billion. These totals would mark changes of +9.5% and +7.73%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for McDonald's. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.21% higher. McDonald's is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.

Investors should also note McDonald's's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 26.72. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 24.64, which means McDonald's is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that MCD currently has a PEG ratio of 3.11. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Retail - Restaurants industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.01 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 25, putting it in the top 10% 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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