McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) released its earnings numbers for the last three months through September this morning before the market opened on Wall Street. The company showed earnings of $1.52 per share for the third quarter of the year. Revenue for the period came in at $7.32 billion. Shares in the company were falling in this morning’s pre-market as a result of the report.
The McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) numbers were largely in line with what analysts were expecting from this morning’s report. The company was expected to earn $1.51 per share, a number it beat by a fraction, on revenue of $7.33 billion, a number it missed by a shade. In the same period last year McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) earned $1.43 on revenue of $7.2 billion.
McDonald’s earnings
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) could have looked a lot weaker in this earnings report. Its biggest competitor in the far east, Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM), recorded disastrous earnings a few weeks ago, mostly as a result of weakness in China. McDonald’s showed slow 0.2% same-store sales growth in Europe and 0.7% same-store sales growth in the United States.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has to watch China as well, but it is nowhere near as susceptible to the swings in the country’s economy as Yum! is. McDonald’s operates in almost every single country in the world, and global sales from stores open at least twelve months were up 0.9%. The golden-arched behemoth is still one of the most important firms on the planet.
McDonald’s performance
Since the start of 2013, shares in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) have increased by just under 8%. The company’s high P/E ratio and the fact that the global consumer economy is still very depressed have led to the fast food giant’s under-performance against the major indices.
Executives from McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) will host a conference call in order to discuss these results at 10 AM EST. Analysts will be looking for advice on the outlook for the consumer economy in the years ahead.
