McDonald's (MCD)
Consumer Discretionary · $178B market cap · SEC CIK 0000063908
$250.35
▲+1.00% on the day
close of Sep 22, 2026
52
Mixed
fundamentals score out of 100
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Nov 3, 2026, before the open, with analysts expecting $3.44 in earnings per share.
The case for MCD
- Generated $7.2B of free cash flow in FY2025, 27% of revenue.
- 32% of revenue drops through to net profit.
- Earns 15% a year on everything it owns (return on assets).
- Gross margin of 57% absorbs cost shocks.
- Moves less than the market (beta 0.44).
- Pays a modest 2.4% dividend.
The case against
- Near the bottom of its 52-week range, 27% below the high. Falling prices usually have a reason; find it first.
- A PEG of 3.7: a P/E of 20.2× is a lot to pay for EPS growing 5%.
- Priced at 6.4× sales with revenue growing only 6.3%.
- Owes more than it owns: shareholder equity is -$1.8B, usually the result of buybacks funded with debt. ROE and price-to-book mean little here.
- Long-term debt of $40.0B against $774M of cash.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Consumer Discretionary companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 47 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 47 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 84 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 19 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 57 |
- Shareholder equity is negative, so return on equity, price-to-book and debt-to-equity are left out.
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 48 Consumer Discretionary companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 20.2× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | n/m (negative equity) |
| Price / sales | 6.4× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +6.3% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +5.4% |
| Gross margin | 57% |
| Operating margin | 46% |
| Net margin | 32% |
| Return on assets | 14.6% (ROE not meaningful: negative equity) |
| Debt / equity | n/m (negative equity) |
| Current ratio | 1.08 |
| Dividend yield | 2.36% |
| Beta | 0.44 |
| 52-week range | $246.52 – $341.75 |
| Position in that range | 4% of the way up |
| 3-month return | -11.0% |
| 1-year return | -18.0% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from McDonald's's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $26.9B | $25.9B | $25.5B | $23.2B | $23.2B |
| Operating income | $12.4B | $11.7B | $11.6B | $9.4B | $10.4B |
| Net income | $8.6B | $8.2B | $8.5B | $6.2B | $7.5B |
| Operating cash flow | $10.6B | $9.4B | $9.6B | $7.4B | $9.1B |
| Capital expenditure | $3.4B | $2.8B | $2.4B | $1.9B | $2.0B |
| Total assets | $59.5B | $55.2B | $56.1B | $50.4B | $53.9B |
| Shareholder equity | -$1.8B | -$3.8B | -$4.7B | -$6.0B | -$4.6B |
| Cash | $774M | $1.1B | $4.6B | $2.6B | $4.7B |
| Long-term debt | $40.0B | $38.4B | $37.2B | $35.9B | $35.6B |
| Free cash flow | $7.2B | $6.7B | $7.3B | $5.5B | $7.1B |
| Operating margin | 46.1% | 45.2% | 45.7% | 40.4% | 44.6% |
| Net margin | 31.9% | 31.7% | 33.2% | 26.6% | 32.5% |
| Diluted shares | 716 | 722 | 732 | 741 | 752 |
Share count is down 4.7% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
Risk factors MCD lists in its 10-K
- Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
- Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
- Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules
- Compensation, Benefits, and Talent Development
- ouble Down on the 4D's: Digital, Delivery, Drive Thru and Restaurant Development
- one of the world’s largest consumer platforms to fuel engagement
- building the easiest and most efficient restaurant operating platform
- building a modern company platform, through our Global Business Services (GBS) organization, that unlocks speed and innovation
- Dollars and shares in millions, except per share data
- Income before provision for income taxes
- Weighted-average common shares outstanding—
- Impact of foreign currency translation on reported results
- Currency translation benefit/(cost)
- Increase/(decrease) excluding currency translation