McDonald's (MCD) Holds Investor Event; UBS Raises Price Target to $125

Moody's Downgrades McDonald's (MCD) Senior Unsecured Ratings to 'Baa1' Following Plans to Increase Leverage

Moody's Investors Service downgraded McDonald's Corporation's (McDonald's) (NYSE: MCD) senior unsecured ratings to Baa1 from A3 and affirmed its short term commercial paper rating at Prime-2. The downgrade reflects the company's recent announcement that it intends to increase its returns to shareholders, the vast majority of which will be funded with additional debt. Moody's views this increase as McDonald's maintaining an aggressive financial policy that will result in a material deterioration in credit metrics and limit its financial flexibility. The ratings outlook is stable.

Ratings downgraded are;

Senior unsecured notes and... More

McDonald's (MCD) Analyst Day Indicates More Cash Flow for Buybacks - Piper Jaffray

Piper Jaffray analyst, Nicole Regan, attended McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) analyst day and believes that current initiatives are on track to increase cash flow which will drive share buybacks over time. She projects a +1.6% global 4Q15 comp, composed of flat in the U.S., +3.0% at Intl Lead markets, +3.0% at High Growth markets and +2.0% in... More

McDonald's (MCD) PT Bumped to $125 at RBC Capital Following Investor Day; Returns Set to Improve

RBC Capital analyst David Palmer reiterated an Outperform rating and boosted his price target on McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) to $125.00 (from $120.00) following yesterday's Investor Day.

"We raise our price target based largely on our increased estimates and expected ROIC improvement," Palmer said. "The company's announcements were largely in line with our prior assumptions. And we were... More

McDonald's (MCD) PT Raised to $128 at Credit Suisse Post Investor Day

Credit Suisse analyst J. West reiterated an Outperform rating and boosted his price target on McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) to $128.00 (from $118.00) following the company's investor day.

West commented, "We came away from MCD's Investor Day still positive on the near-term and long-term outlook... More

Market Wrap: New Minneapolis Fed President Named; McDonald's Eschews REIT Structure; Alibaba Reports Robust Singles' Day Results

Market wrap for November 10th

End of the Day: S&P 500 up 3.1 to 2,081.72; Dow Jones up 27.7 to 17,758.21; Nasdaq down 12.1 to 5,083.24

Market Brief: Markets felt a little pressure as Apple pulled-back on negative iPhone demand commentary today. However, several firms issued notes saying that the outlook was largely expected.

McDonald's said it wouldn't move to implement a REIT structure and issued other updates at its Investor Meeting today.

Alibaba reported robust Singles' Day sales.

Magnum Hunter stock was... More

Notable 52-Week Highs and Lows 11/10: (GE) (MCD) (MDR) High; (SUNE) (MNKD) (AEGR) Low

52-Week High:General Electric (NYSE: GE) $30.27. GE ticking to a new 52-week high following news that Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) will be joining the S&P 500. For more color,... More

UPDATE: S&P Cuts McDonald's (MCD) to 'BBB+'; Notes Increased Leverage on Sharply Higher Debt Load for 2016

(Updated - November 10, 2015 2:56 PM EST)

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered all of its ratings, including the corporate credit rating, on McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) to 'BBB+' from 'A-'. The outlook is stable. The commercial paper rating remains 'A-2'.

The downgrade reflects our assessment of the higher leverage from the sharply higher debt load planned in 2016 to return an additional $10 billion of cash to shareholders by the end of next year. Overall, we believe this approach marks a significant and rapid shift in financial policy for the... More

UPDATE: McDonald's (MCD) Pares Earlier Gains; Sees Potential for Credit Downgrade Amid New Debt Plans

(Updated - November 10, 2015 2:30 PM EST)

(Updated - November 10, 2015 2:23 PM EST)

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) shares are active amid additional headlines from the company's... More

McDonald's (MCD) sees returning all free cash to investors over the long term - Investor Meeting

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) sees returning all free cash to investors over the long term, according to the company's Investor Meeting.

McDonald's (MCD) Resumes Trading

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) Resumes Trading

McDonald's (MCD) Raises Quarterly Dividend 4.7% to $0.89; 3.2% Yield

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.89 per share, or $3.56 annualized. This is a 4.7% increase from the prior dividend of $0.85.

The dividend will be payable on December 15, 2015, to stockholders of record on December 1, 2015, with an ex-dividend date of November 27,... More

McDonald's (MCD) Say It's Raising Dividend By 5%

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) Say It's Raising Dividend By 5%

McDonald's (MCD) Says It's Not Pursuing REIT; to Raise Dividend 5%

(Updated - November 10, 2015 1:31 PM EST)

(Updated - November 10, 2015 1:16 PM EST)

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) said at its investor meeting that it is not pursuing a REIT structure. The company sees reducing G&A by $500 million and it is committed to reducing expenses.

During the Company's investor meeting today, McDonald's Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook and members of senior management provided an update on the Company's Turnaround Plan and made the following... More

McDonald's (MCD) Halted Ahead of Investor Meeting at 1pm ET

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) Halted Ahead of Investor Meeting at 1pm ET (link).

UPDATE: McDonald's (MCD) Halted Ahead of investor Day Meeting

(Updated - November 10, 2015 12:58 PM EST)

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) halted with news pending.

Shares are halted ahead of the company's Investor Day meeting today. More info can be found here.

AB InBev, HSBC, Google, 8 others to testify at EU tax hearing

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS - Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: ABI), HSBC , Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and eight other companies will be quizzed by EU lawmakers next week on their European tax deals as part of a campaign to ensure multinationals pay their fair share of taxes.

While the European Parliament's tax committee can only issue a non-binding recommendation at the end of November, the publicity generated by its actions will likely ramp up the pressure on... More

McDonald's will not put properties into REIT, CEO says

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) will not spin off its properties into a real estate investment trust (REIT), Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook said at the company's investor meeting on Tuesday.

The announcement came as executives at the world's biggest fast-food company by sales laid out plans for luring back diners, cutting more costs, shifting restaurant ownership to franchisees and returning more cash to investors.

After significant deliberation, Easterbrook said, company leaders determined that a REIT was not the best interest of shareholders. The potential upside was not... More

U.S. fast-food workers to strike in 270 cities: organizers

By Ian Simpson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. fast-food workers will strike in 270 cities on Tuesday in a protest for higher wages and union rights that they hope will catch the attention of candidates in 2016 elections, organizers said.

The walkouts will be followed by protests in 500 cities by low-wage workers in such sectors as... More

McDonald's (MCD) Upside Scenario Values Shares at $140 - RBC Capital

RBC Capital analyst, David Palmer, published an analyst day preview for McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and believes that under a rosy scenario, the company's shares can be worth as much as $140 if it can reaccelerate same store sales growth.

Declining SSS has... More