McDonald’s Sales Rise, EPS Forecast Falls

Global same-store sales for McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) rose 3.3% in May, led by a jump of 4.4% in the US and 2.9% in Europe. The company’s Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region posted a same-store sales decline of -1.7% in the4 month.

Analysts had been expecting US growth of 5.3%, 5.1% in Europe, and 3.2% in APMEA.

This year’s sales rise in the US and Europe is higher than same-store sales growth in May of 2011. But May 2011 same-store sales rose 4.3% in the APMEA region, compared with this year’s decline. Lower sales in Japan and China more than offset gains in Australia the company said.

McDonald’s also warned on second-quarter earnings, saying that EPS would be reduced by -$0.07 to -$0.09 as a result of currency exchange rate translation. That has pushed the stock price down more than -2.5% in pre-market trading this morning, to $86.03 in a 52-week range of $80.28-$102.22.

Paul Ausick