McDonald’s Asia Expansion Plans Push Shares to Multiyear High

News that McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is looking to further grow its empire of golden arches with an expansion into the Far East markets helped push its shares to a new multiyear high on Thursday. This came even as signs a new competitor in the United States have appeared. Operator of the fast casual chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) appears to be preparing to launch a burger chain of its own.

McDonald’s said it intents to identify strategic partners who will add value and unlock growth potential in key markets throughout Asia to advance the company’s future growth plans.

Essentially, McDonald’s aims to add more than 1,500 restaurants in China, Hong Kong and Korea over the next five years. The company believes that China, Hong Kong and Korea collectively represent over 2,800 restaurant locations, the majority of which are currently company-owned. Those countries are included within the company’s High-Growth Markets, a segment that includes countries with relatively higher restaurant expansion and franchising potential.

As part of a way to advance growth in Asia, the company also recently announced its intent to identify strategic partners in Taiwan and Japan.
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Steve Easterbrook, president and CEO of McDonald’s, commented:

Asia represents a significant area of opportunity for McDonald’s to blend our global quality standards with local insights and expertise from partners who share our vision and values. … This will allow McDonald’s to accelerate our growth and scale faster across diverse markets placing us closer to our customers and the communities we serve. We’re in the midst of transforming our business and taking a strategic and thoughtful approach to enhance our ability to grow around the world. These actions build on our turnaround efforts and will advance local ownership, enable faster decision-making and achieve restaurant growth.

So far in 2016, McDonald’s has outperformed the broad markets, with the stock up 7%. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is up about 33%.

Shares of McDonald’s reached a new high of $126.96 Thursday morning after rising nearly 1% shortly have the opening bell. Its consensus analyst price target is $125.95, and the 52-week low is $87.50.