McDonald’s is still on track for 50,000 restaurants by 2027, stock jumps after Q4 earnings
International customers are still lovin’ it, even if America isn’t after an E. coli outbreak strained sales in the US.
Fast-food giant McDonald’s reported its Q4 2024 results this morning, and while the company’s international revenues were golden — same-store sales in overseas licensed markets, led by the Middle East and Japan, climbed 4.1% year over year — the Arches’ American customers were not lovin’ it so much. US comparable sales fell by 1.4% in the quarter, marking the largest sales decline in the country in almost half a decade.
The US sales slip was steeper than analysts were expecting, and was impacted by an E. coli outbreak in October that saw the chain briefly halt selling its iconic Quarter Pounders in roughly a fifth of its US restaurants. Even a push for its much-vaunted $5 value menu, the continued success of its loyalty scheme (sales to members of its Rewards scheme were up 30% in 2024), and a rerelease of the company’s ace, the McRib sandwich, did little to pork up the company’s stateside sales. Indeed, while McDonald’s and America are often culturally synonymous, the chain has been having a tough time in its biggest global market recently.
Chain reaction
Luckily, McDonald’s sales are still booming abroad, with plans for international expansion forging ahead… potentially why the company’s stock is up 5% in early trading this morning despite US sales stalling.
Indeed, the majority of the company’s new restaurants are set to be opened outside of the US in the years ahead. On the earnings call, Ian Borden, the company’s Global Chief Financial Officer, said:
“Globally, we plan to open approximately 2,200 restaurants this year, with about 1/4 of these openings in our US and IOM segments. We expect to open more than 1,600 restaurants in our IDL segment, including about 1,000 in China. Overall, we anticipate slightly over 4% unit growth from the nearly 1,800 net restaurant additions in 2025.”
That’s a continuation of the strategy of the last few years, which has seen the company trim its US store portfolio — actually shutting ~900 branches nationwide from 2015 to 2021 — while expanding overseas. Indeed, the company says it’s “on track to reach 50,000 restaurants by the end of 2027,” which would mark its fastest ever period of global expansion.
