McDonald's (MCD) closed at $293.59 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.21% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.02%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 1.62%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.89%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain had lost 5.6% lagged the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 13.36% and the S&P 500's gain of 12.23%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of McDonald's in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on May 7, 2026. On that day, McDonald's is projected to report earnings of $2.75 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 3%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.49 billion, up 8.93% from the year-ago period.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $13.21 per share and a revenue of $28.69 billion, signifying shifts of +8.28% and +6.72%, respectively, from the last year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for McDonald's. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 0.18% lower within the past month. At present, McDonald's boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
With respect to valuation, McDonald's is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 21.96. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 19.44.
Meanwhile, MCD's PEG ratio is currently 2.68. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Retail - Restaurants industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.89.
The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 165, which puts it in the bottom 33% of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
