Loading…
World's largest fast-food chain by system sales, operating and franchising burger-and-fries restaurants globally.
World's largest fast-food chain by system sales, operating and franchising burger-and-fries restaurants globally.
Earns mostly rent and royalties from franchisees, who run the large majority of restaurants and pay a percentage of sales; McDonald's owns or leases the land and buildings under many of them. Company-run restaurants add sales. It leaves day-to-day operations to franchisees and earns on the brand and the real estate.
Moat: wide (brand, scale, distribution). Unmatched global scale, real-estate ownership under franchisees, and one of the world's most recognized brands.
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States · Founded: 1940 · Employees: 150,000
Size McDonald's (MCD) is a United States Consumer Discretionary company (Restaurants) with a market value of $196B, the 59th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $276.52 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 0.3%, against +6.6% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 5th lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 5.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +8.6%); the operating margin is 46.1% (peer median 11.5%).
Valuation It trades at 20.7× forward earnings against a peer median of 24.8× (9th cheapest of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 4% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +7%, so the hurdle is -3 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Credit McDonald's has 55 bonds outstanding ($38.4B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like A at a weighted spread of 77 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 1.9% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 28 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $27.8B | $26.9B | $25.9B | $25.5B | $23.2B |
| Revenue growth | — | +4% | +2% | +10% | — |
| Gross profit | $15.9B | $15.5B | $14.6B | $14.4B | $13.1B |
| EBITDA | $14.6B | $14.6B | $14.0B | $13.7B | $12.2B |
| Net income | $8.99B | $8.56B | $8.22B | $8.47B | $6.18B |
| Free cash flow | n/a | $7.19B | $6.67B | $7.25B | $5.49B |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | $3.37B | $2.77B | $2.36B | $1.90B |
| Total debt | n/a | $54.8B | $51.9B | $53.1B | $48.7B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDonald's MCD | $196B | 0% | +6% | 46% | 20.7× | 4.1% |
| Yum! Brands YUM | $44.0B | +7% | +9% | 32% | 24.8× | -0.2% |
| Restaurant Brands International QSR | $35.1B | -3% | +6% | 27% | 18.1× | 6.3% |
| Wendy's WEN | $1.55B | +12% | -1% | 13% | 17.9× | 2.4% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | MCD | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +16.7% | +9.9% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +0.3% | +6.6% | 5th lowest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -18.6% | -14.7% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +5.8% | +8.6% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 46.1% | 11.5% | highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 20.7× | 24.8× | 9th cheapest of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 4.1% | 6.9% | 7th least demanding of 20 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.0% | +12.9% | 4th lowest of 20 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -2.9 pp | -5.4 pp | 10th most demanding of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 13.4× | 16.2× | 5th cheapest of 21 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.7× | 3.0× | 8th most indebted of 21 |
| Bond spread | 77 bp | 90 bp | 3rd tightest of 6 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDonald's MCD | United States | $196B | 0% | +6% | 46% | 20.7× | 4.1% | +7.0% |
| Starbucks SBUX | United States | $120B | +1% | +2% | 11% | 32.6× | 18.5% | +5.5% |
| Yum! Brands YUM | United States | $44.0B | +7% | +9% | 32% | 24.8× | -0.2% | +7.8% |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG | United States | $43.6B | +6% | +8% | 15% | 27.1× | 15.1% | +14.8% |
| Restaurant Brands International LP QSP-UN.TO | Canada | $35.9B | +12% | +5% | 28% | n/a | 1.0% | +14.6% |
| Restaurant Brands International QSR | United States | $35.1B | -3% | +6% | 27% | 18.1× | 6.3% | +13.7% |
| Darden Restaurants DRI | United States | $25.6B | +15% | +8% | 12% | 19.7× | 7.5% | +12.9% |
| Yum China YUMC | United States | $17.1B | +6% | +10% | 13% | 15.3× | -7.5% | +7.4% |
| Aramark ARMK | United States | $13.9B | +17% | +11% | 4% | 19.8× | 16.1% | +7.6% |
| Zensho 7550.T | Japan | $12.2B | +41% | +12% | 7% | 34.3× | 6.1% | +16.3% |
| Texas Roadhouse TXRH | United States | $12.1B | +4% | +10% | 8% | 26.8× | 13.8% | +19.6% |
| Domino's DPZ | United States | $11.0B | +4% | +4% | 20% | 16.3× | 1.8% | +3.7% |
| Sodexo SW.PA | France | $9.91B | +28% | 0% | 3% | 17.7× | 6.0% | +6.6% |
| Brinker International EAT | United States | $8.58B | +49% | +6% | 11% | 14.7× | 9.3% | +11.7% |
| Food & Life Companies 3563.T | Japan | $7.34B | +12% | +24% | 10% | 35.6× | 6.9% | +16.0% |
| McDonald's Holdings Company (Japan) 2702.T | Japan | $7.33B | +7% | +2% | 14% | 32.0× | 1.8% | +7.6% |
| Haidilao 6862.HK | Hong Kong | $7.24B | -28% | +11% | 12% | 11.4× | 2.0% | +7.8% |
| CAVA CAVA | United States | $6.91B | -26% | +27% | 7% | 85.5× | 41.5% | +27.9% |
| Jersey Mike's Subs JMKE | United States | $6.03B | n/a | +11% | 21% | 26.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Dutch Bros BROS | United States | $5.90B | -36% | +30% | 10% | 31.0× | 36.3% | +38.0% |
| Cheesecake Factory CAKE | United States | $5.32B | +73% | +8% | 7% | 21.2× | 16.7% | +13.6% |
McDonald's has 55 bonds outstanding with $38.4B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like A. Weighted yield 5.08%, a spread of 77 bp over government bonds.