Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, March 9, 2012

Article Excerpt

MCDONALD’S CORP., $96.84, New York symbol MCD, reported lower-than-expected same-store sales for February 2012. That caused the stock to fall 2% this week. The restaurant chain’s same-store sales rose 7.5% during the month. That missed the consensus forecast of a 7.7% increase. Even so, it’s a big jump from the 3.9% sales gain the company reported in February 2011. Most of the increase came from its U.S. operations, where same-store sales rose 11.1% thanks to strong demand for a new popcorn chicken product (Chicken McBites), premium coffees and breakfast items. Same-store sales rose 4.0% in Europe, where strong gains in the U.K. and Russia offset lower sales in other markets due to severe winter weather. Same-store sales rose just 2.4% in Asia, partly due to lower sales in Japan, which is still recovering from last year’s earthquake/tsunami. McDonald’s is a buy. McDonald’s was recently covered in the November 2011 issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Click here to access it. McDonald’s was recently covered in…