McDonald's Corporation (MCD) Stock Analysis
Latest ClaritX AI analysis ·
McDonald's Corporation operates and licenses its renowned fast-food chain worldwide, with a significant presence in both the United States and international markets. Their comprehensive menu offers classic items like hamburgers and cheeseburgers, a variety of chicken options including sandwiches and nuggets, alongside lighter choices such as wraps, french fries, and salads. For breakfast, patrons can select from offerings like biscuit and bagel sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and hotcakes. Additionally, the company provides oatmeal, an assortment of desserts including milkshakes, sundaes, and soft-serve ice cream, plus a selection of baked goods. A wide array of soft drinks, coffee, and othe
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Price | $233.04 |
| Market cap | $165.6B |
| Sector | Consumer Cyclical |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| ClaritX AI score | 73/100 |
| Price/Book | -161.90 |
| Dividend yield | 3.19% |
| Beta | 0.41 |
AI verdict
McDonald's Corporation (MCD) currently presents an exceptionally rare, highly asymmetric value proposition for defensive capital allocators, pairing an unassailable fundamental moat with historically extreme technical capitulation. Trading at $233.04, the equity remains perilously close to its 52-week low of $229.20. Crucially, the stock's current distance from its 52-week high of $341.75 represents a massive 31.81% structural drawdown. For an ultra-defensive, globally entrenched blue-chip asset characterized by a remarkably low beta of just 0.414, a peak-to-trough contraction of this magnitude is a profound statistical anomaly indicative of macro-driven institutional panic rather than intrinsic deterioration. It is critical to recognize that while a stock trading at its 52-week high on euphoric sentiment carries severe multiple-compression risk, a heavily beaten-down asset with flawlessly intact fundamentals provides a massive, mathematically built-in margin of safety for aggressive contrarian accumulation. Fundamentally, the corporate architecture remains an absolute fortress. The company continues to produce an elite 31.72% net profit margin and generates a towering $10.92 in free cash flow per share, effortlessly supporting its highly attractive 3.19% dividend yield, which recently secured the coveted "Dividend King" status. While an RSI of 16.70 highlights severe near-term technical damage, the underlying franchise royalty model is completely uncompromised by the noise.
What this score has been worth
ClaritX scores MCD 73 out of 100 (snapshot 2026-10-05).
Every ClaritX analysis is scored first and judged only on what the stock did afterwards. Across the 293 analyses that scored in the 70-79 band, the average forward return was +0.8% with a 49% win rate, -4.1pp against the S&P 500. That is a measured tendency across many names, not a forecast for MCD — roughly 51% of stocks in this band still lost money.
The full band-by-band table, including the bands that lost, is on the AI Rank Report; the live strategy arms behind it are on the AI Track Record, losses published.