The latest trading session saw McDonald's (MCD) ending at $291.15, denoting a -0.66% adjustment from its last day's close. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.92% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.31%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.03%.

The the stock of world's biggest hamburger chain has risen by 1.21% in the past month, lagging the Retail-Wholesale sector's gain of 4.85% and overreaching the S&P 500's gain of 0.81%.

The upcoming earnings release of McDonald's will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on February 10, 2025. In that report, analysts expect McDonald's to post earnings of $2.83 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 4.07%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $6.49 billion, indicating a 1.33% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for McDonald's. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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 utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.64% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Currently, McDonald's is carrying a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that McDonald's has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.58 right now. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 24.11 for its industry.

We can additionally observe that MCD currently boasts a PEG ratio of 3.82. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. Retail - Restaurants stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.11 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 50, placing it within the top 20% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.

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McDonald's Corporation (MCD) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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