McDonald's (MCD) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald's serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.

Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand's national and international expansion. The company is also known for its real estate strategy, owning or controlling land and buildings at many restaurant sites and leasing them to franchisees, a structure that has been central to its growth. McDonald's operates and franchises restaurants across more than 100 countries, serving millions of customers daily through an extensive global supply chain and localized menus adapted to regional tastes.

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, McDonald's is governed by a corporate management team and a board of directors that oversee global operations, brand strategy and franchise relations. The company has emphasized investment in digital ordering, delivery, restaurant modernization and menu innovation to enhance convenience and customer experience. McDonald's continuing focus on its franchised business model, global brand recognition and operational scale positions it as a leading participant in the global quick-service restaurant industry.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $280.41 to $283.73
• 50-Day Range: $274.36 to $326.79
• 52-Week Range: $271.98 to $341.75
• Volume: 3.06 million shs
• Average Volume: 4.39 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $200.70 billion
• P/E Ratio: 23.29
• Dividend Yield: 2.63%
• Price Target: $334.45
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

McDonald's Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

McDonald's scored higher than 96% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 27th out of 199 stocks in the retail/wholesale sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

McDonald's has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 17 buy ratings, 14 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside Potential

McDonald's has a consensus price target of $334.45, representing about 18.4% upside from its current price of $282.48.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

McDonald's has been the subject of 13 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 9.20%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for McDonald's are expected to grow by 9.20% in the coming year, from $12.93 to $14.12 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of McDonald's is 23.29, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 44.79.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of McDonald's is 23.29, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Retail/Wholesale sector average P/E ratio of about 19.81.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

McDonald's has a PEG Ratio of 2.81. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.40% of the float of McDonald's has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

McDonald's has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.94, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in McDonald's has recently increased by 19.40%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

McDonald's pays a meaningful dividend of 2.62%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

McDonald's has been increasing its dividend for 49 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of McDonald's is 61.34%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, McDonald's will have a dividend payout ratio of 52.69% next year. This indicates that McDonald's will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.63

News Sentiment

McDonald's has a news sentiment score of 0.63. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.51 average news sentiment score of Retail/Wholesale companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 88 news articles for McDonald's this week, compared to 12 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

146 people have searched for MCD on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 125% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

45 people have added McDonald's to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 200% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, McDonald's insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $1,769,209.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.26% of the stock of McDonald's is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

70.29% of the stock of McDonald's is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 3/17 Dividend: 3/03/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 3/17 Dividend: 3/03/2026
• Dividend Payable: 3/17/2026
• Last Earnings: 5/07/2026
• Today: 5/24/2026
• Record date for 6/16 Dividend: 6/02/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 6/16 Dividend: 6/02/2026
• Dividend Payable: 6/16/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/05/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Retail/Wholesale
• Industry: RETAIL - RESTRNTS
• Sub-Industry: Restaurants
• Current Symbol: NYSE:MCD
• Previous Symbol: NYSE:MCD
• CIK: 63908
• Web: corporate.mcdonalds.com
• Phone: (630) 623-3000
• Fax: 630-623-5004
• Employees: 150,000
• Year Founded: 1954

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for McDonald's: $334.45
• High Price Target: $385.00
• Low Price Target: $250.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +18.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.50
• Research Coverage: 32 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $12.13
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 23.29
• Forward P/E Ratio: 21.85
• P/E Growth: 2.81
• Net Income: $8.56 billion
• Net Margins: 31.62%
• Pretax Margin: 40.47%
• Return on Equity: -442.10%
• Return on Assets: 14.75%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 1.14
• Quick Ratio: 1.12

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $26.89 billion
• Price / Sales: 7.47
• Cash Flow: $15.38 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 18.37
• Book Value: ($1.81) per share
• Price / Book: -156.07

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 710,510,000
• Free Float: 708,659,000
• Market Cap: $200.70 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.43