The Death of Growth at McDonald’s

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By Jon C. Ogg Published

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McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) released its latest data on same-store sales growth. As the title of this post suggests, McDonald’s has run into a growth problem. We cannot figure out how it can maintain any future growth at this rate, compared to the past decade.

October global same-store sales increased by a mere 0.5%, versus a gain of only about 0.1% expected by the analysts who project this figure. Same-store sales growth of 0.2% in the United States was slightly under projections.

Europe was a slight positive at a gain of 0.8% on the region’s same-store sales. This figure was driven by gains in France, the United Kingdom and Russia, with a slight drag in Germany. We saw that October’s APMEA (Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa) comparable sales were down by 2.8%.

One issue to consider is an extra day shift, and then there were also promotions of the Mighty Wings, a new wrap and the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

What we have a hard time with is that McDonald’s shares are still trading around $97, in a 52-week range of $83.31 to $103.70. The consensus price target is just over $104 for the next year. The growth rates are just not there for the time being, and we are not sure how McDonald’s will entice and reward investors in the next two years like it did from 2010 to 2012.

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About the Author Jon C. Ogg →

Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.

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