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McDonald's (MCD) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: Here's Why

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McDonald's (MCD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $253.81, moving -0.94% from the previous trading session. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.26%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.18%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.35%.

The world's biggest hamburger chain's stock has dropped by 6.83% in the past month, falling short of the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 0.54% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.25%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of McDonald's in its upcoming release. On that day, McDonald's is projected to report earnings of $3.10 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 2.21%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $6.68 billion, indicating a 2.85% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

MCD's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $12.17 per share and revenue of $26.62 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +1.93% and +4.41%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for McDonald's. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.12% lower. Right now, McDonald's possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, McDonald's is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.06. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.14.

It's also important to note that MCD currently trades at a PEG ratio of 2.89. 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 average PEG ratio for the Retail - Restaurants industry stood at 1.77 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 163, positioning it in the bottom 36% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


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