Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- McDonald’s Corp., the world’s largest restaurant company, is spending more when others are cutting back, and shareholders are benefiting.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows that McDonald’s is the only one of 64 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to boost spending on dividends, share buybacks and capital items this year and be rewarded with a share gain.

The increase comes amid almost $1 trillion in losses and writedowns by Citigroup Inc. and other financial institutions, resulting in frozen credit markets and a deepening U.S. recession. McDonald’s has advanced 3.7 percent this year and may post its sixth straight annual gain.

“McDonald’s is in a position to capitalize on anything it wants,” John Kornitzer, who oversees $4.5 billion at Kornitzer Capital Management, said today in a telephone interview. The Shawnee Mission, Kansas-based firm owned almost 188,000 McDonald’s shares through September. “It’s a well-run company with good earnings and a good dividend, and it’s not freezing up at all.”

McDonald’s reported today a November sales increase of 7.7 percent at global locations open at least 13 months, topping some analysts’ estimates. Total revenue climbed 1.9 percent after the dollar’s gains against other currencies shaved results by 7.7 percentage points.

Matthew DiFrisco, an Oppenheimer & Co. analyst in New York, reduced his profit estimate by 1 cent to 86 cents a share and his revenue projection to $5.65 billion from $5.69 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Burritt in Greensboro, North Carolina at 1348 or cburritt@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 8, 2008 15:23 EST