McDonald's posted its best U.S. sales growth in two years. What's the secret?

McDonald's U.S. sales last quarter posted their best growth in more than two years, and the company's revenue and profits generally exceeded Wall Street's expectations. McDonald's attributed the strong quarter to the success of its affordable pricing strategy, which helped win back customers. However, the stock declined slightly in the aftermarket after the data was released: investors are concerned about the uncertain outlook.

McDonald's revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 10% year-on-year to $7 billion. Wall Street expected $6.84 billion, CNBC writes with reference to LSEG data. Adjusted earnings per share totaled $3.12 versus the $3.05 forecast. Net income rose 7% year-over-year to $2.16 billion in 2024.

Comparable sales, a metric that excludes the effect of network expansion, rose 5.7%, while analysts had expected a 3.9% increase. In the U.S., the metric rose 6.8%, beating analysts' expectations and the highest result since 2023, Bloomberg notes. A year ago in the same period, by contrast, the metric fell 1.4% due to an E. coli outbreak.

Shares of McDonald's in extended trading on February 11 after the publication of reports at first rose by 2%, but then went into the negative zone and fell in the moment by about 0.4%. The securities ended Wednesday's main trading lower by 0.85% to $323.2. The fast-food restaurant chain's securities remain up 5.8% since the beginning of 2026.

The company notes that traffic and sales in the quarter were supported by promotional campaigns, including the return of Monopoly and the seasonal Grinch Meal offering. Also playing an important role were Extra Value Meals, McDonald's revamped line of fixed- and reduced-price combo sets, which the company is using to bring back the brand's price appeal. The offer provides about 15% savings on popular combo sets: a burger, fries and a drink.

"By listening to consumers and taking action, we improved attendance and strengthened brand perception on the dimensions of affordability and value," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczynski said in a press release.

According to him, due to the popularity of the Grinch Meal set, which included limited edition socks in some countries, McDonald's was the largest seller of socks in the world for almost a week. A total of 50 million pairs were sold in the first few days of the promotion. According to the company, this promotion was the reason for the most successful day in McDonald's history in terms of sales. The company management did not specify the amount of daily revenue.

Fourth-quarter results show that those efforts, which included more affordable menu items and set lunches priced starting at $5, are paying off and allowing the fast-food restaurant chain to outperform competitors, Bloomberg notes.

According to McDonald's CFO Ian Borden, 2026 has started the year strong for the company, but the first quarter is expected to show weaker comparable sales growth compared to the fourth quarter. Despite the success of Extra Value Meals, momentum at the beginning of the year was affected by the winter storm that swept the country in late January: it scared away some customers and led to temporary restaurant closures.

McDonald's plans capital spending in the range of $3.7 billion to $3.9 billion in 2026. The majority of these funds will be used to open about 2,600 new restaurants. The company expects the net addition of 2,100 restaurants to generate sales growth of about 2.5%.

"We believe the underlying assumptions in our 2026 forecast are realistic and reflect the expectation that the fast food segment in the U.S. and many other countries will continue to face challenging conditions," Borden said.

McDonald's is also preparing large-scale changes to its menu. In the second half of 2026, the chain will start offering new drinks - energy drinks, fruit refreshers and author's sodas - in the United States and some foreign countries. Similar to Taco Bell and Chick-fil-A, McDonald's expects that interesting drinks will attract diners and drive sales. The company is also betting on chicken, which is becoming increasingly popular with Americans.

In the longer term, McDonald's plans to customize menus for customers using GLP-1 weight-loss medications. In addition, the company will emphasize the high protein content of existing dishes, CNBC writes. "We will be focused on customer requests and what they want from us, but there are already a lot of items on our menu that will work for them," McDonald noted.

Opinions of analysts on shares of McDonald's diverge, follows from the data of MarketWatch. Securities have a total of 20 recommendations to buy (ratings Buy and Overweight), while the advice to hold (Hold) is only two less. Two more recommend selling (Sell). The average target price of $336.66 implies an increase of only 3% compared to the closing level on February 11.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor