Analysts Praise McDonald’s After Another Earnings Beat By Investing.com

By Senad Karaahmetovic

Shares of McDonald’s (NYSE:) are up about 2% in pre-open trading Thursday after the fast-food restaurant chain reported better-than-expected results.

McDonald’s reported a Q3 beat of $2.68 to top the analyst consensus of $2.59. Revenue for the quarter came in at $5.87 billion, again better than the consensus estimate of $5.72 billion.

McDonald’s said that its comparable sales increased by 9.5%, driven by strong performance overseas. The company said comparable sales were fueled by strategic menu price increases and positive guest counts.

“As the macroeconomic landscape continues to evolve and uncertainties persist, we are operating from a position of competitive strength,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said.

RBC analysts said the results were “strong.”

“While comps came in above expectations across each of MCD’s segments, the IOM beat (+8.5%, vs. Street +5.5%) is particularly encouraging, as concerns around the European macro have weighed on MCD stock recently,” the analysts wrote to clients.

Evercore ISI analysts highlighted that MCD is gaining shares in the U.S. “with momentum likely building in October.”

“Our initial assumption is that pricing remained up high-single digits, mix was a mid-single digit headwind, and traffic was up low-single digits. We believe that October SSS growth is up double-digits driven by adult happy meals, boo buckets, and could sustain at high levels with the “farewell tour” for the McRib starting on October 31s,” they noted.