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McDonald's (MCD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, McDonald's (MCD - Free Report) closed at $187.85, marking a +1.74% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.3%. At the same time, the Dow added 2.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.95%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain had gained 3.44% over the past month. This has outpaced the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 1.21% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.21% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from MCD as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 29, 2019. On that day, MCD is projected to report earnings of $1.89 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 10.53%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.16 billion, down 3.39% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $7.76 per share and revenue of $21.03 billion, which would represent changes of +16.52% and -7.86%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for MCD. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher. MCD currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, MCD is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 23.8. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 23.8, which means MCD is trading at a no noticeable deviation to the group.

It is also worth noting that MCD currently has a PEG ratio of 2.71. 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.85 at yesterday's closing price.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 151, which puts it in the bottom 41% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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