Fast-food chain McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow before market hours. Here’s what investors should know.

McDonald's beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 0.9% last quarter, reporting revenues of $6.87 billion, up 2.7% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with a decent beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates but a slight miss of analysts’ same-store sales estimates.

Is McDonald's a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting McDonald’s revenue to be flat year on year at $6.46 billion, slowing from the 8.1% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.86 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. McDonald's has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates twice over the last two years.

Looking at McDonald’s peers in the traditional fast food segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Starbucks posted flat year-on-year revenue, beating analysts’ expectations by 0.9%, and Yum China reported revenues up 4.1%, falling short of estimates by 1.7%. Starbucks traded up 8.2% following the results while Yum China was also up 6.4%.

Read our full analysis of Starbucks’s results here and Yum China’s results here.

There has been positive sentiment among investors in the traditional fast food segment, with share prices up 11.1% on average over the last month. McDonald's is up 3.7% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $320.75 (compared to the current share price of $294.25).

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