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How to buy McDonalds Corporation stock
Own McDonalds Corporation stock in just a few minutes.
McDonald's Corporation is a restaurants business based in the US. McDonalds Corporation shares (MCD) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. McDonalds Corporation employs 205,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$19.1 billion.
How to buy shares in McDonalds Corporation
- Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
- Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
- Search for McDonalds Corporation Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: MCD. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
- Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until McDonalds Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
- Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of McDonalds Corporation, depending on your broker.
- Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of McDonalds Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.
What's in this guide?
- MCD shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is MCD stock a buy or sell?
- Stock performance over time
- Can I short MCD shares?
- Is MCD suitable for ethical investing?
- Are MCD shares over-valued?
- McDonalds Corporation's financials
- How volatile are MCD shares?
- Does McDonalds Corporation pay a dividend?
- Have MCD shares ever split?
- Other common questions
McDonalds Corporation share price
Use our graph to track the performance of MCD stocks over time.McDonalds Corporation shares at a glance
Information last updated 2020-09-25.
| 52-week range | USD$124.23 - USD$226.72 |
|---|---|
| 50-day moving average | USD$213.1292 |
| 200-day moving average | USD$189.9673 |
| Wall St. target price | USD$220.77 |
| PE ratio | 34.0681 |
| Dividend yield | USD$5 (2.33%) |
| Earnings per share (TTM) | USD$6.327 |
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Is it a good time to buy McDonalds Corporation stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.
McDonalds Corporation price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the last close of $N/A
| 1 week (2020-09-16) | N/A |
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| 1 month (2020-08-23) | N/A |
| 3 months (2020-06-23) | N/A |
| 6 months (2020-03-23) | N/A |
| 1 year (2019-09-23) | N/A |
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| 2 years (2018-09-23) | N/A |
| 3 years (2017-09-23) | N/A |
| 5 years (2015-09-23) | N/A |
Is McDonalds Corporation under- or over-valued?
Valuing McDonalds Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of McDonalds Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
McDonalds Corporation's P/E ratio
McDonalds Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 34x. In other words, McDonalds Corporation shares trade at around 34x recent earnings.
That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.
McDonalds Corporation's PEG ratio
McDonalds Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.6068. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into McDonalds Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
McDonalds Corporation's EBITDA
McDonalds Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$8.9 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a McDonalds Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
McDonalds Corporation financials
| Revenue TTM | USD$19.1 billion |
|---|---|
| Operating margin TTM | 37.84% |
| Gross profit TTM | USD$11.1 billion |
| Return on assets TTM | 9.41% |
| Return on equity TTM | 0% |
| Profit margin | 24.95% |
| Book value | $-8.966 |
| Market capitalisation | USD$160.8 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Shorting McDonalds Corporation shares
There are currently 6.9 million McDonalds Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as McDonalds Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 14.1% up from 6.0 million last month.
There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting McDonalds Corporation shares can be evaluated.
McDonalds Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)
McDonalds Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of McDonalds Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of McDonalds Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 2.7 million). McDonalds Corporation's SIR currently stands at 2.53. In other words for every 100,000 McDonalds Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2530 shares are currently held short.
However McDonalds Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of McDonalds Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable McDonalds Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case McDonalds Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 McDonalds Corporation shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0093% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable McDonalds Corporation shares, roughly 9 shares are currently held short).
Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against McDonalds Corporation.
Find out more about how you can short McDonalds Corporation stock.
McDonalds Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like McDonalds Corporation.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
McDonalds Corporation's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 22.47
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and McDonalds Corporation's overall score of 22.47 (as at 08/01/2020) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 35th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like McDonalds Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
McDonalds Corporation's environmental score
Environmental score: 2.17/100
McDonalds Corporation's environmental score of 2.17 puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that McDonalds Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
McDonalds Corporation's social score
Social score: 14.15/100
McDonalds Corporation's social score of 14.15 puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that McDonalds Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
McDonalds Corporation's governance score
Governance score: 5.15/100
McDonalds Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 2nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that McDonalds Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
McDonalds Corporation's controversy score
Controversy score: 3/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. McDonalds Corporation scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that McDonalds Corporation hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary
McDonald's Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2020-08-01.
| Total ESG score | 22.47 |
|---|---|
| Total ESG percentile | 35.4 |
| Environmental score | 2.17 |
| Environmental score percentile | 2 |
| Social score | 14.15 |
| Social score percentile | 2 |
| Governance score | 5.15 |
| Governance score percentile | 2 |
| Level of controversy | 3 |
McDonalds Corporation share dividends
Dividend payout ratio: 77.81% of net profits
Recently McDonalds Corporation has paid out, on average, around 77.81% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 2.33% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), McDonalds Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 2.33% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In McDonalds Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $5 per share.
McDonalds Corporation's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.
McDonalds Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 15 September 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 31 August 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").
Have McDonalds Corporation's shares ever split?
McDonalds Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 8 March 1999. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your McDonalds Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for McDonalds Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted McDonalds Corporation's share price.
McDonalds Corporation share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, McDonalds Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $124.23 up to $226.72. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while McDonalds Corporation's is 0.6778. This would suggest that McDonalds Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
McDonalds Corporation overview
McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises McDonald's restaurants in the United States and internationally. Its restaurants offer various food products and beverages, as well as breakfast menu. As of December 31, 2019, the company operated 38,695 restaurants. McDonald's Corporation was founded in 1940 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
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