McDonald's Shares Up 7% On Earnings, Sales Beat

(RTTNews) - Shares of McDonald's Corp. (MCD) is currently up nearly 7% after the burger chain reported an earnings and revenues for the third quarter that trumped Wall Street analysts expectations.

McDonald's profit dropped to $1.64 billion or $2.10 per share from $1.88 billion or $2.32 per share last year.

Last year's bottom line included gain of $0.56 per share. Excluding one-time items, earnings per share increased 19% from last year.

On average, 27 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.99 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

McDonald's revenues fell 6.6% to $5.37 billion from $5.75 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $5.32 billion for the three-month period.

Global comparable sales increased 4.2%, as international lead segment's comps increased 5.4%, primarily driven by the U.K., Australia, and France, high growth segment increased 4.6% and foundation markets rose 6.0%. Strong international same stores sales growth helped to offset slowing U.S. sales. In the U.S., third quarter comparable sales increased 2.4%, driven by growth in average check resulting from both product mix shifts and menu price increases.

"In addition to achieving 13 consecutive quarters of positive global comparable sales, we have made substantial progress modernising restaurants around the world, enhancing hospitality and elevating the experience for the millions of customers we serve every day. We remain confident that our strategy will drive long-term, profitable growth," said CEO Steve Easterbrook.

MCD is currently trading at $177.26, up $10.63 or 6.38%, on the NYSE, on a volume of 5.5 million shares, above average volume of 3.5 million.