As of this writing, McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) stock sits at $270.64. The 52-week high is $341.75, so shares have given up about 21% — and they now sit just 4% from the bottom of their yearly range. That’s an unusual place to find one of the steadiest large businesses in the world, and to me, it’s worth a look. At the current price, the stock offers a dividend yield of about 2.7%, and shares cost about 22 times earnings.
A decline like that usually means something went wrong. So, did the business change, or did just the price? The company’s last four quarterly reports point one way.
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The business the stock left behind
McDonald’s has now posted positive global comparable sales (growth at restaurants open more than a year, the industry’s cleanest measure of underlying demand) in each of its last four reported quarters. The streak runs 3.8% in the second quarter of 2025, 3.6% in the third, 5.7% in the fourth, and 3.8% in the first quarter of 2026. The fourth quarter also came with positive guest counts globally, meaning more transactions, not just higher checks.
The U.S. business, which investors have fretted over as lower-income consumers pull back, grew comparable sales 6.8% in the fourth quarter and 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026. The international side kept pace. International operated markets grew comparable sales 3.9% in the first quarter, and the developmental licensed markets, where local partners run the restaurants, grew 3.4%.
Profits followed. First-quarter revenue rose 9% year over year to about $6.5 billion, and operating income climbed 12% to nearly $3 billion — a 45% operating margin. Earnings per share came in at $2.78, up 7%.
The full year of 2025 told the same story. Revenue rose 4% to $26.9 billion, operating income rose 6%, and earnings per share climbed 5% to $11.95.
That operating margin is the heart of the investment case. Most of McDonald’s revenue doesn’t come from selling burgers. Of that $26.9 billion in revenue, $16.5 billion came from its franchised restaurants — rent and royalties collected from operators who put up their own capital and carry the restaurant-level costs.
That structure is why operating margins can sit in the mid-40% range and why profits could hold up through a consumer soft patch.
