McDonald’s released the earnings results from its fourth fiscal quarter before opening bell this morning, posting earnings of $1.22 per share on $6.57 billion for the quarter, a 7% year over year decline. Analysts had been expecting earnings per share of $1.23 on $6.7 billion in revenue for the quarter.
Net earnings were $1.13 per share for the fourth quarter, compared to $1.40 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
Key metrics from McDonald’s earnings report
Same store sales in the U.S. slipped 1.7%, which was slightly better than the FactSet consensus estimate of a 2% decline. Global same store sales fell 0.9%, also beating the consensus estimate of a 1.6% decline. McDonald’s also reported negative global guest traffic in all of its major segments. Comparable sales fell 1.1% in Europe and 4.8% in the APMEA region.
McDonald’s reports several items
For the full year, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) reported earnings of $4.82 per share, a 13% year over year decline which included 54 cents per share worth of negative items. Included in those items is 31 cents per share for an increase in tax reserves, a 23 cent per share impact from a supplier issue that was the result of lower sales and profitability in the APMEA region. Excluding those items, earnings would have declined only 3% year over year.
For the fourth quarter, McDonald’s reported 9 cents per share in negative impacts related to the supplier problems in the APMEA region.
Other updates from McDonald’s
The fast food chain also returned $1.8 billion to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends during the quarter. For the full year, McDonald’s returned $6.4 billion through share buybacks and dividends.
Today management also provided a video update on their “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign. They focused on what McDonald’s franchisees want to see, like the elimination of expresso drinks from the McCafe menu. Others want to completely dump the McCafe segment. They also want to see fewer Happy Meal options, no wraps, the small fry size and the deletion of the worst-selling 10% of the menu.
As of this writing, shares of McDonald’s were up 1.2% in premarket trading after this morning’s earnings report.
