CluenexMcDonald's Corporation MCD
McDonald's Corporation scores good on business quality (7.1 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What McDonald's Corporation does
McDonald's operates a global fast-food franchise model, making money primarily through real estate leases and royalties paid by independent operators. Franchisees fund the physical footprint while the company collects recurring fees.
- What it does best
McDonald's extracts unmatched rent and royalty cash flows from a global real estate portfolio, yielding a top-decile FCF margin of 97% in its sector. This scale creates a self-funding property engine that rivals like SBUX at 9.5% cannot easily replicate.
- The main risk
Jim Cramer notes a 24% drop in the stock, highlighting consumer spending fatigue among lower-income demographics. If traffic continues to slide, franchisee profitability drops, threatening the royalty stream that anchors the entire business model.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin reaches 45.7% with a free cash flow margin near elite levels, driven by high-margin franchise royalties rather than direct store operations. Scale directly expands margins.
A massive global footprint and unmatched real estate control lock in franchisees for decades, backed by an operating margin sector percentile of 100. Rivals cannot replicate this physical network within years.
Revenue growth tracks at 3.7%, showing steady but modest gains that lag behind agile peers like DASH at 27.9%. The engine relies on incremental unit expansion rather than explosive top-line surges.
Interest coverage sits at 7.8x, meaning debt servicing is well-managed while free cash flow reaches $7.7B to support buybacks and dividends. The balance sheet remains stable.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on MCD
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
McDonald's Corporation scores good on the Cluenex quality check (7.1 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is strong, moat strong, growth slow and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Nov 4, 2026, before the open.
See MCD today
- Today's verdict on MCD, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “McDonald's Corporation (MCD)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/mcd/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.