Why McDonald's Stock Is Jumping Today
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) stock is gaining ground in Monday's trading. The fast-food giant's share price was up 4.5% as of noon ET, amid the backdrop of a 0.5% gain for the S 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and a 1.1% gain for the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC).
McDonald's reported its fourth-quarter results before the market opened this morning, and sales and earnings performance for the period actually came in below expectations. But despite missing Wall Street's top-line and bottom-line targets, the business showed signs of improvement in key areas -- and management outlined strategies that have investors feeling bullish.
In last year's fourth quarter, McDonald's posted non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) adjusted earnings per share of $2.83 on sales of $6.39 billion. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had called for the business to post adjusted earnings per share of $2.86 on revenue of $6.48 billion. Overall revenue was down 0.3% year over year in the period, and adjusted earnings per share were down 4%.
Source Fool.com
