Early this morning, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) reported February sales, which may act as a lodestone on quarterly earnings. According to MarketWatch, MCD's systemwide sales dropped 4.6%, but "currency fluctuation" caused the problem. Without these fluctuations, MCD's sales would have increased 3.2%.MCD's same-store sales increased 2.8% in February, or 6.8% excluding a calendar shift for an extra day in February 2008. European sales decreased slightly, but were up 4% taking the calendar shift into account.
In the United States, MCD's chicken items, its Quarter Pounder, breakfast items, and beverages (nothing is much better than a nice MCD Diet Coke) were the top sellers. MCD saw particularly strong performance in Europe, the U.K., and in Russia. However, the strength in these countries was offset by weakness in Germany.
MCD added that "unprecedented" volatility in exchange rates and commodity prices will hit first-quarter earnings by roughly seven to nine cents per share. That said, the fast food firm plans on reporting a one-time gain of three to four cents.
At last check, MCD was roughly a percent higher, bucking the overall downtrend. Technically, it seems that the shares may have found a bit of support at the round-number $50 level. The stock has relied on this support on various occasions, four since October 2008 to be exact. Could this be a buying opportunity for Mayor McCheese and the crew? It certainly appears so.
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