Over the last couple of years, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) may have staged one of the most impressive corporate turnarounds in recent history, but last week's earnings picture gave investors reason to pause.
McDonald's first-quarter profit dropped 14% to $625.3 million, or $0.49 per diluted share; last year at this time, McDonald's recorded a large tax benefit to earnings, which makes for a difficult comparison. On the other hand, sales increased 6% to $5.1 billion, while same-store sales logged a 5.2% gain -- and the company pointed out that it is currently celebrating its 36th consecutive month of positive same-store sales. It received a small benefit to earnings from its Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) spin-off, but it also had some negative impacts from U.K. store closings, buying out franchises in Brazil, and an impairment charge. It's worthwhile to mention that despite the lower profits, the quarter did meet analysts' expectations.
Still, there are a few items of concern for investors. Europe continues to be a sticking point for McDonald's. Sales, general, and administrative costs increased 6%, although the company is painting a more positive outlook on such costs for the remainder of the year. Meanwhile, despite the fact that McDonald's shelled out $1 billion for share repurchases, the company admitted that it is disappointed with the less-than-expected sequential decrease in share count, although it also promised that the picture should improve within the coming year. It plans to spend $5 billion to $6 billion on share repurchases and dividends this year and next.
(I can't resist taking a minute to mention a Foolish pet peeve -- the McDonald's press release included only an income statement, meaning that investors will have to wait for the company to file its Form 10-Q to take a close look at the balance sheet and cash flow statement. For those who went the extra mile and accessed McDonald's earnings-related Form 8-K filing on the SEC's website, there are some additional financial highlights included in the exhibits. Still, it does not include those financial statements in their entirety.)
Considering that hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management was agitating for change in recent history -- last quarter, that issue was still fresh in many minds, especially considering that rival Wendy's (NYSE: WEN) caved to Pershing Square's pressure to spin off Tim Hortons (NYSE: THI) -- many folks might be watching McDonald's very carefully at the moment, especially since the company said it could deliver more shareholder value by adhering to its own strategic plans. (Pershing has since backed down.)
Lastly, I found it interesting that there were a few strategic mentions of coffee and China sprinkled in McDonald's conference call -- both are pretty popular buzzwords at the moment, considering that many investors have recently seemed pretty euphoric over Starbucks' (Nasdaq: SBUX) plans for expansion in China. However, talk is cheap, and this should be an interesting year ahead for McDonald's, with investors keeping a close eye on the issues named above.
You deserve a break today -- check out some more Foolish coverage on the Golden Arches:
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Alyce Lomax owns shares of Starbucks but no shares of the other companies mentioned.
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