McDonald’s jumps on earnings beat

McDonald’s reported a solid earnings beat of 12 cents a share ($1.79 vs expectations for $1.67) before the market opened today, April 30. Revenue fell 9.5% year over year to $5.14 billion but that was still ahead of the $4.97 billion Wall Street consensus for the quarter.
 
The shares closed up 5.77% today.
 
Global comparable sales gained 5.5% (vs estimates for 5%) and global comparable guest count increased by 0.8%. The company noted that this marked 11 consecutive quarter of positive comparable sales and a fifth consecutive quarter of positive guest count growth.
 
In the United States first quarter comparable sales are by 2.9% driven by higher average checks resulting from increase in prices and consumers moving up to the company’s premium sandwich offerings. Comparable sales in what the company calls Foundational market rose 8.7%. Sales in High Growth markets such as China and Italy rose by 4.7%.
 
Expenses at company operated restaurants fell 24.3%. Occupancy expenses at franchised restaurants increased by 11.7%.
 
McDonald’s shares are  member of my Dividend Portfolio. They yield 2.59%. The shares are down 5.3% since I added them to the Dividend Portfolio on January 23, 2018.
 
The gain today took the shares to a three-month high and moved the stock back above the 200-day moving average.