McDonald's (MCD) closed at $282.61 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.59% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.88%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 1.24%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.65%.

Coming into today, shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain had lost 3.55% in the past month. In that same time, the Retail-Wholesale sector gained 0.92%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.17%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of McDonald's in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on February 10, 2025. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $2.83, marking a 4.07% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.5 billion, up 1.41% from the year-ago period.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for McDonald's. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.35% downward. McDonald's is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

With respect to valuation, McDonald's is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.54. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 22.83.

One should further note that MCD currently holds a PEG ratio of 3.65. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Retail - Restaurants industry was having an average PEG ratio of 2.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 82, finds itself in the top 33% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

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