McDonald's Almost-Perfect Earnings Record Is on the Line
- Restaurant-level margin eyed amid continued wage pressures
- Store remodel headwinds expected to ease in 4Q, erase in 2019
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
McDonald’s Corp. has topped earnings estimates in all but one quarter since 2015, underlying a stock rally that’s doubled the market over the past three years. With the shares trading near a record high, investors will watch whether the momentum continued in the fourth quarter as the company reports pre-market Wednesday.
And things are not all rosy. The owner of the fast-food restaurant chain faces a worsening slowdown in China and Europe while wage pressure in the U.S. is building. But analysts from Telsey Advisory and RBC Capital Markets see the potential for comparable-store sales to exceed estimates as the company stepped up promotional cadence around its value offerings and the drag from store remodeling probably eased.