McDonald’s Stock Hits 52-Week Low Near $257 as U.S. Traffic Slows and Investors Await Chicago Strategy Day

NEW YORK — McDonald’s Corp. shares traded near a one-year low on Thursday as investors kept selling a stock that has already fallen far from its spring peak, even though the company is still making more money than a year ago.

The shares changed hands around $256.87 in early afternoon New York trading on Sept. 4, down $2.76, or about 1.1 percent, from Wednesday’s close. The day’s range dipped as low as about $255.79, matching the bottom of the 52-week band that once stretched to $341.75. That high was reached in early March. From there, the stock has dropped roughly one-fifth.

The move was not tied to a single announcement. It was the latest step in a months-long rerating of a company that Wall Street used to treat as a defensive holding: a global franchise machine with reliable cash, a rising dividend and a brand that usually gains share when household budgets tighten. This year that story has cracked. U.S. customers are visiting less often. Value deals have not restored traffic the way they did in 2025. And the stock has lagged a rising S&P 500 even after second-quarter earnings beat profit forecasts.

The latest official snapshot came on Aug. 4. McDonald’s reported net income of $2.36 billion, or $3.32 a share, for the quarter ended June 30, up from $2.25 billion, or $3.14 a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were $3.38 a share, above the $3.32 FactSet consensus. Revenue rose 4 percent to $7.1 billion, a shade short of the $7.13 billion analysts expected.

Global comparable sales, the measure of locations open at least a year, increased 1.3 percent. The United States, still the company’s largest market, rose only 0.8 percent after a 2.5 percent gain a year earlier. International operated markets grew 1.5 percent, led by Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom, with France a drag. Developmental licensed markets rose 1.9 percent. Systemwide sales, which include franchised restaurants, increased 5 percent to $37 billion.

Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski did not dress up the U.S. number.

“This quarter McDonald’s delivered positive comparable sales growth across every segment and acted decisively to strengthen execution as we prime McDonald’s for the next era of long-term growth,” he said in the earnings release.

On the conference call he was blunter. “We don’t have a strategy problem,” he said. “We simply didn’t execute at the level we needed to in the second quarter.”

Company filings said U.S. comparable sales were driven by higher average checks and a richer mix of items, partly offset by fewer guest visits. That combination is the core of the investor argument. McDonald’s can still lift the ticket when people order a larger combo or a pricier sandwich. It is having more trouble getting them through the door.

Management pointed to inconsistent restaurant operations, marketing that missed, including a June FIFA campaign that underperformed, and a pullback in digital offers that had been propping up app users. Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden said the reduction in digital deals left some customers buying less or skipping a visit. Reuters later reported that Kempczinski told investors loyal customers accounted for about two-thirds of the traffic shortfall.

The company responded on the same day it reported results by changing the person in charge of the home market. Skye Anderson, a 26-year McDonald’s veteran and most recently U.S. chief operating officer, became president of McDonald’s USA, succeeding Joe Erlinger, who left the company after about seven years in the job. Anderson now oversees nearly 14,000 U.S. restaurants.

“While our playbook is working around the world, we see an opportunity to raise the bar in the U.S. and accelerate performance in our largest market,” Kempczinski said. “Skye Anderson’s appointment today as president of McDonald’s USA will bring focus and urgency to these efforts.”

Anderson said the work would happen in the restaurants, not on a slide. “I am honored to lead the U.S. business and build on the strong foundation already in place,” she said. “Together with our Owner/Operators, suppliers and employees, we’ll remain focused on serving great food, delivering exceptional experiences, earning the right to be our customers’ first choice and bringing McDonald’s > NEXT to life across our restaurants every day.”

McDonald’s > NEXT is the growth plan unveiled at the company’s worldwide convention in June. It is built around better-tasting food and drinks, new restaurant design, consumer-led menu news and cleaner service. Management has promised more financial detail at an investor day in Chicago on Sept. 23 — less than three weeks after the stock printed a fresh 52-week low.

That calendar is now the main event for the shares. Investors want to know how much franchisees will spend, how quickly U.S. traffic can stabilize, and whether the company can simplify a value lineup that has grown crowded. McDonald’s has tested and restacked deals for two years: Extra Value Meals, a McValue platform, buy-one-add-one offers, and an under-$3 list that includes items such as a McChicken, McDouble, small fries and a four-piece Chicken McNuggets. Rivals have copied the playbook. Taco Bell, Wendy’s and others also sell cheap bundles. Reuters reported in August that discounts alone no longer guaranteed traffic across the sector.

The franchise model still throws off cash. First-half adjusted operating margin was 46.9 percent. Loyalty remains a bright line in the results: systemwide sales to loyalty members reached $40 billion over the trailing 12 months, up more than 20 percent, with nearly 220 million 90-day active users. The company still plans about 2,600 gross restaurant openings in 2026. It did push back the date for 50,000 restaurants worldwide to 2028 from the end of 2027, citing a pressured consumer and higher development costs. Even with that delay, management called the current buildout the fastest period of restaurant growth in the company’s history.

The dividend is another reason the stock has not collapsed further. McDonald’s declared a $1.86 quarterly cash dividend with an ex-date of Sept. 1. At Thursday’s price, the yield is close to 2.9 percent, near the high end of its recent range after the share-price slide. The company has raised the payout for decades, which keeps income-oriented funds interested even when growth stocks look cheaper on a multiple basis.

Consensus still leans constructive. A mid-September snapshot of about 34 analysts showed an average target near $315, implying more than 20 percent upside from the mid-$250s, with individual targets ranging from about $250 to $407. Several firms did cut numbers after the U.S. miss. RBC Capital lowered its target to $295 from $305. Bernstein cut to $295 from $310, citing delayed growth and value-execution problems. Some data providers counted more than a dozen downward earnings revisions after the print.

The valuation argument cuts both ways. The stock now trades at a lower multiple than it did at $341, which is why some investors call the pullback an entry. Other models still see the shares as expensive relative to slower U.S. comps. Restaurant peers have been weak as well, and consumer names have been caught in a broader debate about middle-income spending.

For now, the market is treating McDonald’s as a company that can print earnings and still lose the traffic war at home. The next chance to change that reading is Sept. 23 in Chicago, when Kempczinski, Borden and Anderson have to show that “focus and urgency” is more than a leadership announcement. Until then, the tape is doing the talking: a blue-chip burger stock, once priced for durability, changing hands at the lowest levels in a year.