Dallas, Texas 07/22/2013 (Financialstrend) – McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) closed at $100.27 on July 19, 2013, with analysts keeping a general view of hold to buy rating. Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus kept a “hold” rating while Janney Montgomery’s analyst kept “buy” to “neutral” rating. The stock has been on a constant rise from $92.95 as on January 22, 2013 to recent closing of $100.27, closing up on 52 week high of$103.7, with a 52 week low of $83.31. The traded volume also outran the average volume of 30 days of 4.27 million to 4.51million indicating a bullish zone.
The sturdy strategic moves and reinforced menu upped the sales in May by 2.6%. The company vigorously focuses on customers, which forms a crucial point on its advancement. Amidst the growing uncertainty in Macro economics, the sales still grew for McDonalds. It is focusing on expanding its customer base, currently 69 million customers visiting McDonalds every day. New offering in breakfast segment and McWraps formed a substantial part of the revenue increase. The Egg white introduction proved to be a great strategic move by the company with expansion in chicken, beef and beverage segments on the menu. Sales in U.S rose by 2.4%, in Europe 2.0% and other regions by 0.9%.
Recent announcement came in about its plan to open up in Vietnam this year. The trade remained unaffected by the news, still the growth in number of outlets will add to the prospects of upward trend in revenue. The company, as on December 31, 2012 had 34480 outlets worldwide, spreading to 119 countries. The maximum of the outlets are franchise or licensed ones.
McDonald also declared dividend on July 18, 2013 of $0.77 representing $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The company is expected to declare its second quarter corporate earnings on July 22, 2013.
