McDonald’s earnings miss estimates as diners pull back, Middle East boycotts hit sales

McDonald’s reported mixed quarterly results Tuesday as its reorganization weighed on its profit and boycotts hurt its Middle Eastern sales.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $2.70 adjusted vs. $2.72 expected
• Revenue: $6.17 billion vs. $6.16 billion expected

McDonald’s reported first-quarter net income of $1.93 billion, or $2.66 per share, up from $1.8 billion, or $2.45 per share, a year earlier. The company recorded a pretax charge of $35 million tied to its reorganization, which was announced more than a year ago.

Excluding restructuring charges, the fast-food giant earned $2.70 per share.

Net sales rose 5% to $6.17 billion. The company’s global same-store sales increased 1.9% in the quarter, falling short of StreetAccount estimates of 2.1%.

McDonald’s reported U.S. same-store sales growth of 2.5%, missing expectations of 2.6%. The chain said that the average check grew thanks to higher menu prices. But by raising prices, McDonald’s has also scared away some of its low-income customers.

Demand in the company’s international developmental licensed markets was even weaker. McDonald’s said the segment’s same-store sales fell 0.2%, marking the first time since the pandemic that one of the chain’s divisions reported a same-store sales decline.

The segment includes restaurants in the Middle East, which have been roiled by the Israel-Hamas war and related boycotts, which started after McDonald’s Israeli licensee offered discounts to soldiers. Earlier this month, McDonald’s bought the 225 restaurants operated by its Israeli franchisee.

However, the company said that same-stores sales in other licensed markets, like Japan and Latin America, grew for the quarter. McDonald’s international operated markets segment, which includes Germany and the United Kingdom, reported same-store sales growth of 2.7%. France’s same-store sales declined in the quarter.