McDonald's Q2 Earnings Top Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for second quarter on Thursday. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company posted quarterly earnings of $1.20 billion, or $1.26 per share, compared to $1.39 billion, or $1.40 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue dropped 10 percent to $6.5 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.24 per share on revenue of $6.45 billion. The average estimate among 42 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.24 per share and revenue of $6.49 billion. Its global same-store sales slipped 0.7 percent in the quarter. Same-store sales dropped 2 percent in the U.S., while Europe's same-store sales gained 1.2 percent. In APMEA, comparable sales dropped 4.5 percent during the quarter. During the quarter, McDonald's returned $2.5 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. "We have made meaningful progress since announcing the initial steps of McDonald's turnaround plan in early May," said McDonald's President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook. "To position the business for long-term growth, we've undergone significant organizational change and are streamlining our global resources to improve our efficiency and effectiveness. While our second quarter results were disappointing, we are seeing early signs of momentum. Looking ahead to third quarter, we expect positive global comparable sales led by growth in our newly-created International Lead Market segment and China's continuing recovery from the 2014 APMEA supplier issue." McDonald's shares gained 0.94 percent to $98.50 in pre-market trading.