1. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q4 2025: 91
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s shares are down by 10.8% over the past year and by 9% year-to-date. RBC Capital discussed the firm on May 9th as it lowered the share price target to $305 from $330 and kept a Sector Perform rating on the shares. The bank commented that McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s first quarter results had beaten expectations by a strong margin on the back of market share gains among low-income customers. However, the bank added that the fast food retailer nevertheless remained vulnerable to macroeconomic weakness. Cramer also discussed the first-quarter earnings report and commented on McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)’s earnings call:
“McDonald’s was such a disappointment, the second half of the conference call . . .”
The second half of the call saw management discuss inflationary pressures. For instance, here’s what McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) CFO Ian Borden said in response to a question from Lauren Silberman at Deutsche Bank:
“Lauren, let me start, and I’m sure Chris may want to weigh in here. I think as I said earlier, April is isolated and discrete because of the lapping of Minecraft. We just wanted to be very clear to kind of call that out because it is quite a unique month. And as I said earlier, I think, we feel very confident about the lineup of activity and the underlying momentum of the business with all of the things we’re doing, including obviously, the moves we’ve made on value and affordability. I mean, I think the environment around us, as Chris talked about earlier, I think, continues to be challenging. But as also he said, it’s not new. And obviously, our focus is on what we can control. And as I said earlier, we think we’ve positioned the business well and well to win irregardless of the environment.
Obviously, higher gas prices, as you talked about earlier, are not going to be helpful, particularly for lower income consumers who are already, I think, under pressure. But we think we’re offering the right choice and affordability on the menu that’s going to appeal to consumers, whether across all income cohorts. And obviously, that’s always our goal.”
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