McDonald's posts earnings beat despite Russia exit impact

McDonald’s beat estimates with its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, boosted by increased prices and a focus on value items, though its net sales fell short thanks to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The fast food behemoth said adjusted diluted earnings per share came in at $2.55 for the quarter, up 8% or 14% at constant currency, when discounting net charges related to Russia and a business sale.

That was ahead of analyst expectations for a figure of $2.47 per share.

It said its results included $1.2bn of charges related to the sale of its business in Russia, and a gain of $271m from the sale of its Dynamic Yield business.

McDonald’s reported consolidated revenue of $5.72bn for the quarter, which was down 3% but up 3% at constant exchange rates, and was well short of the $5.81bn pencilled in by Wall Street.

Looking at its sales, McDonald’s said global comparable sales were ahead 9.7%, reflecting growth across all of its segments, with the US market rising 3.7%.

International operated markets were up 13%, and international developmental licensed markets were 16% higher.

"The McDonald's System continues to demonstrate strength and resiliency," said president and chief executive officer Chris Kempczinski.

“Our second quarter performance reflects outstanding execution against our Accelerating the Arches strategy.

“By focusing on our customers and crew, enabled by a rapidly growing digital capability, we delivered global comparable sales growth of nearly 10%.”

Kempczinski said the operating environment across the competitive landscape remained “challenging”, however.

“While we are planning for a wide range of scenarios, I am confident that our plans and people position McDonald's to weather this environment better than others.”

At 1024 EDT (1524 BST), shares in McDonald’s Corporation were up 1.75% at $254.77.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.