New Stores & Coffee Should Fuel Growth

Article Excerpt

MCDONALD’S CORP. $53 (New York symbol MCD; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $63.6 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) plans to spend $2.0 billion on capital upgrades in 2008, up slightly from $1.9 billion in 2007. About half of this will go to open 1,000 new restaurants, including 125 in China and 40 in Russia. McDonald’s currently operates 31,000 outlets worldwide. The company also plans to remodel 1,600 of its existing restaurants. Another area of growth for McDonald’s is premium coffee. It plans to install coffee bars at its 14,000 locations in the United States. Demand for these beverages is growing fast. McDonald’s aims to lure customers away from Starbucks and other high-end coffee shops with lower prices and other promotions. McDonald’s is a buy. buy…