Bringing the fundamentals into focus…

McDonald's Corporation (MCD) fundamentals: overall 50/100 — StockQuotient

MCD Consumer Cyclical

McDonald's Corporation

$230.88-0.68%

Price as of close on Oct 7, 2026

Basics

Sector: Consumer Cyclical
Industry: Restaurants
Country: United States
Market cap: 163.4B USD
Enterprise value: 203.1B USD
Full-time employees: 150,000

This snapshot is over eight days old. A refresh may be pending.

Overall health

Drawback: higher risk than most peers: less short-term liquidity (current ratio 1.08 vs a peer median of 1.49)higher risk: less liquidity (current ratio 1.08 vs peers 1.49)
About average: growth and valuation

Ranks #802 of 1,502 consumer cyclical companies (bottom 47%)

See how it ranks against its peers

Worth knowing

Negative shareholders' equity. Liabilities exceed assets on the balance sheet.
McDonald's's liabilities exceed its assets on the balance sheet. Large share buybacks can cause this in healthy companies, but so can accumulated losses; either way, debt-based ratios need care.
Investment surge. Capital spending 13% of revenue, up from 8.2% in 2022.
McDonald's is spending 13% of revenue on facilities and equipment, up from 8.2% in 2022. That weighs on free cash flow today; whether it pays off depends on the returns those investments earn.
Wide margins. Operating margin 46% (12 months to Jun 2026) vs a peer median of 6.4%.Operating margin 46% vs peers 6.4%.
McDonald's keeps 46% of revenue as operating profit, more than 95% of peers (median 6.4%).

StockQuotient Score

50/ 100

Valuation

Is the price right?

42/100

Moderate

3/3 inputs reported · High confidence

Since last quarter: No major changeValuation also moves with the share price every day.

Why

Held back by:

▼ EBITDA yield

Compare with peers

Behind the score

Sector-normalized EBITDA, earnings, and free cash flow yields.

Earnings yield5.4%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Reported value30% base weight · Z-score 0.29Sector median: 0.0445 · MAD: 0.0319

EBITDA yield6.6%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Reported value50% base weight · Z-score -0.49Sector median: 0.0882 · MAD: 0.0459

Free cash flow yield4.8%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026 · operating cash flow − capital spendingReported value20% base weight · Z-score -0.30Sector median: 0.0640 · MAD: 0.0544

Other data (not scored)

Book yield-0.6%

SEC filings · latest balance sheetOutlier capped at sector 5th/95th percentileInformational · 0% composite weightSector median: 0.5370 · MAD: 0.3253

Growth

Is it growing?

54/100

Moderate

3/3 inputs reported · High confidence

Since last quarter: No major change

Why

Helped by:

▲ Revenue growth

Compare with peers

Behind the score

Revenue and earnings-per-share growth over one year, and revenue growth over three years.

Earnings per share growth5.6%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Reported value33% base weight · Z-score 0.06Sector median: 0.0419 · MAD: 0.2519

3-year revenue growth4.6%

SEC filings · 3 years to Jun 2026Reported value33% base weight · Z-score 0.06Sector median: 0.0421 · MAD: 0.0637

Revenue growth6.3%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Reported value33% base weight · Z-score 0.40Sector median: 0.0370 · MAD: 0.0650

Profitability

Does it earn well?

96/100

Strong

3/3 inputs reported · High confidence

Since last quarter: No major change

Why

Stronger than most peers on:

▲ Operating margin
▲ ROA
▲ ROIC

Compare with peers

Behind the score

Return on invested capital, operating margin, and return on assets.

Operating margin46.2%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Outlier capped at sector 5th/95th percentile33% base weight · Z-score 3.84Sector median: 0.0641 · MAD: 0.0456

Return on assets14.7%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Outlier capped at sector 5th/95th percentile33% base weight · Z-score 4.00Sector median: 0.0330 · MAD: 0.0257

Return on invested capital26.6%

SEC filings · 12 months to Jun 2026Reported value33% base weight · Z-score 3.21Sector median: 0.0733 · MAD: 0.0602

Other data (not scored)

Gross margin57.4%

Yahoo Finance fallback · SEC figure unavailable or out of date · trailing 12 monthsReported valueInformational · 0% composite weightSector median: 0.3014 · MAD: 0.1397

Return on equityUnavailable

Missing · left out of the scoreInformational · 0% composite weightSector median: 0.0752 · MAD: 0.0672

Risk

Debt, liquidity, price swings

Higher

Higher relative risk

3/3 inputs reported · High confidence

Since last quarter: No major change

Why

Weaker than most peers on:

▼ Debt / equity
▼ Current ratio

Compare with peers

Behind the score

Relative to sector peers: 0 = lower relative risk · 1 = moderate · 2 = higher. Based on leverage, beta and liquidity.

Beta0.41

Yahoo Finance · 5-year monthly beta vs the marketReported value33% base weight · Z-score 0.73Sector median: 0.6340 · MAD: 0.3010

Current ratio1.08×

SEC filings · latest balance sheetReported value33% base weight · Z-score -0.73Sector median: 1.4860 · MAD: 0.5580

Debt / equityUnavailable

Shareholders' equity is negative, so debt/equity counts as among the highest in its peer group33% base weight · Z-score -8.90Sector median: 0.4646 · MAD: 0.3569

Valuation, growth and profitability scores: higher is better. Risk: 0 is lower, 2 is higher. Risk is a relative proxy, not a bankruptcy probability. Scores depend on available sector peers.

Latest filing: what changed

Quarter ended Jun 30, 2026 · filed Aug 7, 2026 · compared with the quarter ended Mar 31, 2026

No major changes

	Previous quarter	Latest quarter	Change
Revenue (12 months)	27.4B USD	27.7B USD	+0.9%
Net income (12 months)	8.7B USD	8.8B USD	+1.3%
Operating margin	46.3%	46.2%	−0.0 pts
Free cash flow (12 months)	7.0B USD	7.8B USD	+10.3%
Debt	40.1B USD	39.9B USD	−0.6%
Cash	1.2B USD	822.0M USD	−29.7%

From the company’s own SEC filings, as filed. Twelve-month figures roll forward one quarter at a time.

Industry valuation context

Industry: Restaurants · 19 companies

Valuations in Restaurants are within their usual range since 2016.

40% of months since 2016 were valued lower than now.
12% of companies are in the most expensive fifth of their own price-to-sales history.
Over 24 months, company values +13% and earnings +17% (medians): earnings grew faster than prices.
Median price-to-sales is −28% vs the whole market, against a usual −11%.

2016Shaded: most expensive fifth of its range2026

Financials

Fiscal years from SEC annual filings · change vs the prior year

Key ratios	FY 2021	FY 2022	FY 2023	FY 2024	FY 2025	Change
Operating margin	44.6%	40.4%	45.7%	45.2%	46.1%	▲ 0.9 pts
Net margin	32.5%	26.6%	33.2%	31.7%	31.9%	▲ 0.1 pts
Return on assets (ROA)	14.0%	12.2%	15.1%	14.9%	14.4%	▼ 0.5 pts
Free cash flow margin	30.6%	23.7%	28.5%	25.7%	26.7%	▲ 1.0 pts
Current ratio	1.78×	1.43×	1.16×	1.19×	0.95×	▼ 20%
Quick ratio	1.76×	1.41×	1.16×	1.18×	0.94×	▼ 20%
Interest coverage	8.73×	7.76×	8.56×	7.78×	7.83×	▲ 0.7%

MCD price history

Price history is added with the daily price update and will appear after the next one.

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