McDonald's Shares Rise After Q1 Results

Shares of

gained more than 2.5 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported results for the first quarter. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company reported a quarterly profit of $811.5 million, or $0.84 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $1.2 billion, or $1.21 per share. The latest quarter results included $0.17 per share in strategic charges and $0.09 per share related to negative foreign currency impact. Its revenue dropped 11 percent to $5.96 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.06 per share on revenue of $5.96 billion. Global comparable sales slipped 2.3 percent in the quarter, while comparable sales declined 2.6 percent in the U.S. division. Europe's Q1 comparable sales fell 0.6 percent, while APMEA's comparable sales dropped 8.3 percent. During the quarter, McDonald's returned $1.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. The average estimate among 50 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.10 per share and revenue of $6.18 billion. "As the world's leading restaurant company, we are evolving to be more responsive to today's customer," said McDonald's President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook. "McDonald's management team is keenly focused on acting more quickly to better address today's consumer needs, expectations and the competitive marketplace. We are developing a turnaround plan to improve our performance and deliver enduring profitable growth. We look forward to sharing the initial details of this plan on May 4, 2015." McDonald's shares gained 2.67 percent to $97.40 in pre-market trading.