Making Sense Of McDonald's Q3 Results

Mcdonald's Corp MCD reported Monday with third-quarter results that came in better than expected.

Traffic Improvement For McDonald's: McDonald's saw its foot traffic fall 59.4% year-over-year in April, and it has steadily improved since then, location analytics company Placer.ai said in a blog post ahead of the earnings report.

Foot traffic for September marked its best performance throughout the pandemic at down 28.7%.

The data compiled by Placer.ai is consistent with what McDonald's said in its report. Most notably, McDonald's said that monthly comparable sales results improved sequentially for all geographic segments throughout the third quarter.

The U.S. segment in particular benefited from strong average check growth from larger group orders, the company said.

Related Link: McDonald's Introduces The McPlant And A New Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Breakfast Daypart: Breakfast and morning daypart visits are an important part of McDonald's business, especially among those who pick up food or coffee on the way to work.

According to Placer.ai, visits during the morning hours (6-9 a.m.) were down 67.7% year-over-year, but afternoon visits were down by a smaller 30% in recent months.

Foot traffic during the evening hours was the least impacted, with traffic down 28.9% from 6-9 p.m. and down 26.4% from 9 p.m. to midnight.

This data is also consistent with McDonald's commentary on growing ticket size during the evenings and strength in takeout and delivery.

"This further strengthens an optimistic perspective as morning visits are normally such a major piece of the overall puzzle, and could be one of the first elements to recover once normal work and school routines return," Placer.ai VP of Marketing Ethan Chernofsky told Benzinga in an e-mail. 

"Should these areas continue to recover as delivery strength continues, the brand could see a very positive end to 2020." 

MCD Price Action: McDonald's shares were trading down 1.37% at $213.62 ahead of the close Monday.