McDonald's Corporation
MCD NYSEMcDonald's Corporation looks about 31% overvalued against its cash-flow value. Its growth outlook scores strong; the balance sheet is solid.
At a glance
tap a tile to dig inOtto's verdict
the tiles above, in a line each- Value Looks ~31% overvalued against Otto's cash-flow estimate.
- Health 12 of 15 health checks pass.
- Growth Revenue trend ≈ +1%/yr (extended trend, not a forecast).
- Street Analysts lean buy · avg target +21% from here.
- Dividend Pays a dividend — yields 2.77%.
- Insiders Insiders, last 12 months: 0 buys · 7 sells.
Not investment advice — Otto just crunches numbers.
Price trend
-11.4% over one year · S&P 500 +20.5%
What think
The market's move: -11.4% over the past year
Trading 9% up its 52-week range. Price is the market's live vote — not advice.
Analyst consensus: Buy · 31 analysts
Average 12-month target ₹30,969.90 — +20.6% vs today.
Yahoo Finance's analyst aggregate. Sentiment, not advice.
Insiders: 0 buys · 7 sales in recent filings
Open-market trades from SEC Form 4. Sales are often pre-planned (10b5-1); buys tend to say more. Sentiment, not advice.
InvestRight readers: 0 watching
This site's own activity — not a broad measure. Sentiment, not advice.
The snowflake
checks passed on each axis- Value 0/— checks
- Future 2/3 checks
- Past 2/3 checks
- Health 2/3 checks
- Dividend 6/6 checks
What does this show?
Five quick health scores — Value, Future, Past, Health and Dividend — each 0–100%. A bigger, more even shape means a stock that scores well across the board; a spiky one is strong on some axes and weak on others.
Learn more on Investopedia →Fair value
our estimate · not analyst forecast31% above our estimate — the price sits over what our numbers support.
How we got there
A 2-stage discounted-cash-flow on free cash flow: grow it at the capped historical trend for five years, fade to a 2.5% long-run rate, discount everything at 9.0%. It's a transparent estimate from past numbers, not a licensed forecast — treat it as one lens, not truth.
What does this show?
Our estimate of what one share is worth based on the cash the business is expected to generate (a discounted-cash-flow model), next to today's price. Below fair value hints undervalued, above hints expensive — it's an estimate, not a guarantee.
Learn more on Investopedia →Health checks
15 checks run on free data- ⚠ Growth accelerating vs its average latest 4.1%/yr vs 6.9% average
- ⚠ Earnings growth beats the market 6.9%/yr vs market ~9.0%
- ⚠ Short-term assets cover short-term bills 4.2B vs 4.4B
- ✓ Debt well covered by cash flow operating cash flow covers 26.0% of debt
- ✓ Dividend covered by earnings and cash flow covered by both earnings and free cash flow
- ✓ Dividend growing over time over 10yr on record
Show all 15 checks by axis
Value 0/— passed
- – Trading below our fair-value estimate
- – P/B below industry industry P/B not on the free feed
- – P/E below industry industry P/E not on the free feed
- – P/E below peer average peer P/Es land after the next refresh
- – P/S sane vs its own history needs multi-year P/S (Tier B)
- – More than 20% below fair value
Future 2/3 passed
- ✓ Earnings trending up 6.9%/yr over 9yr
- – Growth beats the industry industry growth not on the free feed
- ⚠ Earnings growth beats the market 6.9%/yr vs market ~9.0%
- ✓ Revenue trending up 1.0%/yr over 9yr
- – Return on equity improving n/a
Past 2/3 passed
- ✓ Earnings grew over the period 4.7B → 8.6B
- – High-quality earnings (few one-offs) one-off detection deferred — needs statement detail
- ⚠ Growth accelerating vs its average latest 4.1%/yr vs 6.9% average
- ✓ Revenue higher than five years ago 24.6B → 26.9B
- – Return on equity above 20%
Health 2/3 passed
- – Debt/equity falling over time n/a
- – Debt is under 40% of equity
- ✓ Debt well covered by cash flow operating cash flow covers 26.0% of debt
- ✓ Interest comfortably covered by profit EBIT covers interest 7.8×
- – Short-term assets cover long-term debt n/a
- ⚠ Short-term assets cover short-term bills 4.2B vs 4.4B
Dividend 6/6 passed
- ✓ Dividend covered by earnings and cash flow covered by both earnings and free cash flow
- ✓ Dividend growing over time over 10yr on record
- ✓ No dividend cut in recent years steady over 10yr on record
- ✓ Payout ratio under 75% payout 59.9% of earnings
- ✓ Yield beats the market yield 2.77% vs market ~1.5%
- ✓ Yield in the top quartile of payers yield 2.77% vs 2.66% cut among the 60 payers Otto tracks
What does this show?
Pass/fail rules on the company's finances — debt levels, profitability, cash cover and so on. More greens means a sturdier balance sheet; an n/a just means we didn't have that data point.
Learn more on Investopedia →Past performance
10-yr history from SEC EDGAR filingsRevenue
Earnings
Free cash flow
dashed line = what it'd look like growing at our ~9% market-average benchmark, for comparison
What does this show?
How revenue, earnings and free cash flow have grown over the years. Bars rising left-to-right show a growing business; the dashed line is a market-average pace for comparison.
Learn more on Investopedia →Revenue & expenses
FY 2025What does this show?
How a company turns sales into profit. Revenue splits into the direct cost of sales and the gross profit left over; from that gross profit come operating costs (R&D, SG&A), tax and interest — what survives is net income. Every figure is also shown as a share of revenue, so you can compare periods and companies of different sizes.
Learn more on Investopedia →Future
trend, not analyst forecastRevenue · extended at 1.0%/yr
Earnings · extended at 6.9%/yr
Dashed bars just extend the historical trend (capped at ±15%/yr) — the same growth our DCF uses. It's arithmetic on the past, not an analyst forecast; real futures bend.
What does this show?
Solid bars are history; dashed bars simply extend the past growth trend a few years forward — capped so it stays sane. It's a trend line, not an analyst forecast.
Learn more on Investopedia →Dividend
from cash actually paid, not promisesTotal dividends paid · split-proof, unlike per-share history
What does this show?
The share of profit paid back to shareholders as cash. Yield is that cash as a % of the price; the payout gauge shows how much of earnings is paid out (over ~75% can be hard to sustain).
Learn more on Investopedia →Ownership & insiders
from SEC Form 4 filings0 open-market buys · 7 sales in the last 10 saved filings
- Exercise Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 5,252 sh · ₹79.32M 2026-06-10
- Sell Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 5,252 sh · ₹142.92M 2026-06-10
- Sell Ralls-Morrison Desiree · EVP, Chief Legal Officer 2,763 sh · ₹73.61M 2026-05-28
- Sell Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 333 sh · ₹8.93M 2026-05-26
- Sell Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 333 sh · ₹9.65M 2026-04-23
- Exercise Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 2,626 sh · ₹39.66M 2026-04-10
- Sell Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 2,626 sh · ₹77.16M 2026-04-10
- Sell Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 333 sh · ₹9.99M 2026-03-23
- Sell Baroni Dario · President, IDL 600 sh · ₹18.59M 2026-03-18
- Exercise Erlinger Joseph M. · President, McDonald's USA 2,626 sh · ₹39.66M 2026-03-10
Insiders must report within two business days. Sales are often pre-planned (10b5-1) rather than a signal — buys tend to say more.
What does this show?
Buys and sells by the company's own directors and officers, from their SEC filings. Insiders sell for many reasons, but clusters of open-market buying can signal confidence.
Learn more on Investopedia →Competitors
Restaurants · tap to jumpNo competitors listed for MCD yet — sign in to add the first one.
What does this show?
A few peers in the same business, each with its own mini snowflake, so you can see how this company stacks up rather than judging it in isolation. Anyone signed in can add a missing competitor — it shows for everyone, marked as user-added.
Learn more on Investopedia →Leadership
Yahoo Finance · photos & bios via Wikidata-
Mr. Christopher J. Kempczinski
Chairman President, & CEO
- Age
- 56
- Total yearly comp
- ₹437.80M
-
Mr. Ian Frederick Borden CPA
Executive VP & Global CFO
- Age
- 56
- Total yearly comp
- ₹295.70M
-
Ms. Gillian McDonald
Executive Vice President & Global Chief Restaurant Experience Officer
- Age
- 59
- Total yearly comp
- ₹221.24M
-
Mr. Joseph Erlinger
EVP & President of McDonald's USA
- Age
- 51
- Total yearly comp
- ₹165.23M
-
Mr. Manuel J.M. Steijaert
Executive VP & President of International Operated Markets
- Age
- 54
- Total yearly comp
- ₹213.27M
-
Ms. Lauren B. Elting CPA
VP, Chief Accounting Officer & Corporate Controller
- Age
- 43
-
Mr. Brian S. Rice
Executive VP & Global Chief Information Officer
- Age
- 62
- Total yearly comp
- ₹79.85M
-
Ms. Desiree A. Ralls-Morrison J.D.
Executive VP & Global Chief Legal Officer
- Age
- 58
- Total yearly comp
- ₹117.60M
-
Ms. E. Morgan Flatley
Executive VP and Global Chief Marketing Officer & New Business Ventures
- Age
- 51
Ranked by title — reporting lines aren't public data. Compensation is the total Yahoo reports; blank means it isn't disclosed there.
In the news
- McDonald's Corp (MCD) (Q2 2026) Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating US Execution Challenges ...
- McDonald's Earnings Win Comes With Warning Sign
- Sector Update: Consumer Stocks Advance Late Afternoon
- Sector Update: Consumer Stocks Rise in Afternoon Trading
- McDonald’s sales in the US are slowing after deal fatigue
- McDonald's reports slower US sales in 2nd quarter
- YUM Drops 10.4% in a Month: Is This Sell-Off a Buying Opportunity?
- Should Investors Buy YUM Stock for Its $9B Digital Growth Engine?
My notes
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Hi! I can explain McDonald's's numbers — valuation, health, the dividend, the fair-value gap. What would you like to know?
Otto explains what's on this page — not investment advice.