Buy McDonald’s Corp

What do investors want? Egg in their McFlurry? The company keeps delivering but analysts don’t seem to get it. First quarter comparable sales climbed 4.3%. Pretty good for a global recession. Operating margins climbed another 1.5 percentage points. And yet McDonald’s (MCD) shares went nowhere. Why? A strong dollar, which depressed reported revenue from overseas, and the refranchising of some company-owned stores cut revenue 10% from the same quarter in 2008. (Refranchising takes sales out of the company’s revenue line and substitutes lower rent and royalty income.) Oh, well, I still continue to collect a dividend yield of 3.5% while I wait for the world to see these shares as I do. As of June 30, I’m leaving my target price at $72 a share by March 2010.