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McDonald's vs. Domino's: Which Stock Has Better Growth Prospects?
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Key Takeaways
McDonald's is leveraging global expansion, digital reach and nearly 220 million loyalty users.
Domino's is gaining order momentum while expanding stores and seeking additional U.S. market share.
Both stocks trade below their one-year median forward P/E multiples, while earnings outlooks diverge.
The quick-service restaurant industry is navigating a more demanding environment as consumers remain value-conscious while companies balance traffic, pricing, digital investments and expansion. Against this backdrop, McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) and Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (DPZ - Free Report) offer two distinct growth models.
McDonald’s is leveraging its enormous global footprint, restaurant expansion and digital ecosystem, while Domino’s is focused on order growth, store expansion and the delivery-led model. With both companies pursuing growth amid evolving consumer preferences and cost pressures, a closer look at their recent performance, growth strategies and outlook can help determine which stock has stronger prospects ahead.
The Case for MCD
McDonald’s continues to benefit from healthy momentum across several international markets. Comparable sales in its International Operated Markets rose 1.5%, with Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom leading performance. Menu innovation, value offerings and locally tailored marketing campaigns are helping the company respond to changing consumer preferences. The International Developmental Licensed Markets also posted 1.9% comparable sales growth, led by Japan’s sustained guest-count gains.
McDonald’s has built a large digital customer base, with nearly 220 million active loyalty users, while its delivery business generates more than $20 billion in annual system-wide sales. The company is also moving toward a more integrated technology platform across its major markets, which management expects to improve efficiency and accelerate innovation. Its new beverage platform is already showing encouraging early results, with higher guest checks and emerging new consumption occasions in key markets.
McDonald’s remains in an aggressive expansion phase, with plans to open roughly 2,600 gross restaurants in 2026. Although the company pushed its 50,000-restaurant target from 2027 to 2028 because of a pressured consumer environment and higher development costs, management still describes the current expansion cycle as the fastest in its history. Meanwhile, investments in global systems are expected to begin generating greater efficiency benefits in 2027.
The U.S. business was a notable weak spot in the quarter, with comparable sales increasing just 0.8%. Management attributed the shortfall largely to inconsistent execution of value offerings, overly complicated restaurant deployments and marketing campaigns that failed to meet expectations. These issues hurt customer traffic and service levels, while the broader QSR industry is also dealing with flat-to-negative traffic in several major markets. McDonald’s is responding with more targeted digital offers, additional support for value promotions and simpler restaurant operations, but restoring U.S. traffic remains an important near-term challenge.
The Case for DPZ
Domino’s continued to generate healthy order momentum despite a difficult U.S. restaurant environment. Management said order counts increased meaningfully across both delivery and carryout, while the company also continued gaining traction through third-party aggregators such as Uber and DoorDash. With Domino’s estimated at roughly 23% of the U.S. pizza category, management believes there remains substantial room to capture additional share.
Domino’s continues to expand its global footprint, supporting retail sales growth even when comparable-store trends are modest. Global net store additions approached 1,000 over the past year, while international retail sales increased 4.1% in the second quarter, helped by 183 new stores during the quarter. For 2026, the company expects to add about 800 net international stores and approximately 175 stores in the United States.
Domino’s is adjusting its marketing calendar and product lineup to better align with consumer demand. The company enhanced its Best Deal Ever promotion by adding Stuffed Crust and reported encouraging customer response. It also plans to introduce a new pizza innovation in the third quarter to address an unmet consumer need and give customers another reason to choose the brand. These initiatives could help improve ticket trends and strengthen order growth in the coming quarters.
Despite strong order growth, Domino’s U.S. same-store sales increased only 0.1% in the second quarter because lower average ticket offset gains in order volume. Management attributed much of the ticket pressure to weaker-than-expected customer response to its Premium Series and Slice Sauce promotion. In addition, macroeconomic uncertainty and heightened competition are pressuring consumers, while weaker franchisee profitability has led the company to slightly trim its 2026 U.S. store-opening expectation.
How Do MCD and DPZ Stack Up on Estimates?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for McDonald’s 2026 sales and EPS calls for year-over-year growth of 4.7% and 5.6%, respectively. Notably, analysts have become more optimistic about MCD’s earnings outlook, with its 2026 EPS estimate moving higher over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For Domino’s, the 2026 sales and EPS estimates imply year-over-year growth of 4.2% and 7.5%, respectively. However, unlike McDonald’s, DPZ’s earnings estimates have trended lower over the past 30 days, pointing to some caution surrounding its near-term earnings outlook.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Price Performance & Valuation
MCD’s shares have declined 3.9% over the past three months, compared with a 0.5% drop for the industry. In contrast, DPZ has delivered stronger stock-price momentum, with shares gaining 11.1% during the same period.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation perspective, both stocks are trading below their respective one-year median forward P/E multiples. MCD currently trades at 19.7X forward 12-month earnings, below its one-year median of 22.9X. DPZ trades at 17.12X, also below its one-year median of 19.69X. This suggests that both stocks are trading at relatively discounted valuations compared with their recent historical levels.
P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
End Notes
Overall, both McDonald’s and Domino’s present compelling growth stories, supported by global expansion, digital initiatives and efforts to strengthen customer engagement. McDonald’s benefits from its broad international footprint, loyalty ecosystem and improving earnings outlook, while Domino’s is seeing strong order momentum, continued store expansion and opportunities to gain market share. However, DPZ’s stronger earnings-growth potential and recent share-price momentum give it a slight edge here.
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McDonald's vs. Domino's: Which Stock Has Better Growth Prospects?
Key Takeaways
The quick-service restaurant industry is navigating a more demanding environment as consumers remain value-conscious while companies balance traffic, pricing, digital investments and expansion. Against this backdrop, McDonald’s Corporation (MCD - Free Report) and Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (DPZ - Free Report) offer two distinct growth models.
McDonald’s is leveraging its enormous global footprint, restaurant expansion and digital ecosystem, while Domino’s is focused on order growth, store expansion and the delivery-led model. With both companies pursuing growth amid evolving consumer preferences and cost pressures, a closer look at their recent performance, growth strategies and outlook can help determine which stock has stronger prospects ahead.
The Case for MCD
McDonald’s continues to benefit from healthy momentum across several international markets. Comparable sales in its International Operated Markets rose 1.5%, with Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom leading performance. Menu innovation, value offerings and locally tailored marketing campaigns are helping the company respond to changing consumer preferences. The International Developmental Licensed Markets also posted 1.9% comparable sales growth, led by Japan’s sustained guest-count gains.
McDonald’s has built a large digital customer base, with nearly 220 million active loyalty users, while its delivery business generates more than $20 billion in annual system-wide sales. The company is also moving toward a more integrated technology platform across its major markets, which management expects to improve efficiency and accelerate innovation. Its new beverage platform is already showing encouraging early results, with higher guest checks and emerging new consumption occasions in key markets.
McDonald’s remains in an aggressive expansion phase, with plans to open roughly 2,600 gross restaurants in 2026. Although the company pushed its 50,000-restaurant target from 2027 to 2028 because of a pressured consumer environment and higher development costs, management still describes the current expansion cycle as the fastest in its history. Meanwhile, investments in global systems are expected to begin generating greater efficiency benefits in 2027.
The U.S. business was a notable weak spot in the quarter, with comparable sales increasing just 0.8%. Management attributed the shortfall largely to inconsistent execution of value offerings, overly complicated restaurant deployments and marketing campaigns that failed to meet expectations. These issues hurt customer traffic and service levels, while the broader QSR industry is also dealing with flat-to-negative traffic in several major markets. McDonald’s is responding with more targeted digital offers, additional support for value promotions and simpler restaurant operations, but restoring U.S. traffic remains an important near-term challenge.
The Case for DPZ
Domino’s continued to generate healthy order momentum despite a difficult U.S. restaurant environment. Management said order counts increased meaningfully across both delivery and carryout, while the company also continued gaining traction through third-party aggregators such as Uber and DoorDash. With Domino’s estimated at roughly 23% of the U.S. pizza category, management believes there remains substantial room to capture additional share.
Domino’s continues to expand its global footprint, supporting retail sales growth even when comparable-store trends are modest. Global net store additions approached 1,000 over the past year, while international retail sales increased 4.1% in the second quarter, helped by 183 new stores during the quarter. For 2026, the company expects to add about 800 net international stores and approximately 175 stores in the United States.
Domino’s is adjusting its marketing calendar and product lineup to better align with consumer demand. The company enhanced its Best Deal Ever promotion by adding Stuffed Crust and reported encouraging customer response. It also plans to introduce a new pizza innovation in the third quarter to address an unmet consumer need and give customers another reason to choose the brand. These initiatives could help improve ticket trends and strengthen order growth in the coming quarters.
Despite strong order growth, Domino’s U.S. same-store sales increased only 0.1% in the second quarter because lower average ticket offset gains in order volume. Management attributed much of the ticket pressure to weaker-than-expected customer response to its Premium Series and Slice Sauce promotion. In addition, macroeconomic uncertainty and heightened competition are pressuring consumers, while weaker franchisee profitability has led the company to slightly trim its 2026 U.S. store-opening expectation.
How Do MCD and DPZ Stack Up on Estimates?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for McDonald’s 2026 sales and EPS calls for year-over-year growth of 4.7% and 5.6%, respectively. Notably, analysts have become more optimistic about MCD’s earnings outlook, with its 2026 EPS estimate moving higher over the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
For Domino’s, the 2026 sales and EPS estimates imply year-over-year growth of 4.2% and 7.5%, respectively. However, unlike McDonald’s, DPZ’s earnings estimates have trended lower over the past 30 days, pointing to some caution surrounding its near-term earnings outlook.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Price Performance & Valuation
MCD’s shares have declined 3.9% over the past three months, compared with a 0.5% drop for the industry. In contrast, DPZ has delivered stronger stock-price momentum, with shares gaining 11.1% during the same period.
Price Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation perspective, both stocks are trading below their respective one-year median forward P/E multiples. MCD currently trades at 19.7X forward 12-month earnings, below its one-year median of 22.9X. DPZ trades at 17.12X, also below its one-year median of 19.69X. This suggests that both stocks are trading at relatively discounted valuations compared with their recent historical levels.
P/E (F12M)
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
End Notes
Overall, both McDonald’s and Domino’s present compelling growth stories, supported by global expansion, digital initiatives and efforts to strengthen customer engagement. McDonald’s benefits from its broad international footprint, loyalty ecosystem and improving earnings outlook, while Domino’s is seeing strong order momentum, continued store expansion and opportunities to gain market share. However, DPZ’s stronger earnings-growth potential and recent share-price momentum give it a slight edge here.
Both MCD and DPZ currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.