CHICAGO — After a rocky end to 2024, punctuated by a deadly E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions on Quarter Pounder burgers, along with declining quick-service restaurant traffic, McDonald’s Corp. is eyeing a turnaround in 2025, focused on appealing to low-income customers and the company’s McValue menu launched in January, which includes buy one/add one items for $1, and $5 meal deals.
“If you look at the low-income consumer in the US — I’m talking industry numbers right now — that low-income consumer in the US in Q4 was still down double digits,” said Christopher Kempczinski, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board, McDonald’s. “That’s why it’s so important we make sure we have a strong value program, which is the focus in Q1 and getting the value menu launched.”
The company reported 2024 fourth-quarter net income of $2.01 billion, down from $2.03 billion the year prior. Diluted earnings per share stayed flat at $2.80 — the same price the previous year. Total revenues were $6.38 billion, down from $6.40 billion the year prior.
Of those revenues, franchised restaurants reported $3.95 billion, up from $3.86 last year, while company owned-and-operated restaurants reported $2.31 billion, down from $2.47 the previous year. Total US sales for the fourth quarter declined 1.4% compared to last year, while global comparable sales increased 0.4%.
McDonald’s 2024 full-year net income was $8.22 billion, down from $8.46 billion the year prior, while diluted earnings per share were $11.39, down from $11.56 last year. Total US sales increased 0.2%, while global comparable sales decreased 0.1%. McDonald’s fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.
“Obviously our performance in 2024 did not meet our expectations, but I’m still immensely proud of our McDonald’s system. It was a busy year and at times it felt like McDonald’s was a part of almost every major news story reflecting the reach and visibility of our brand. Throughout it all, McDonald’s people were resilient and responsive. We stayed focused on our customers, acted swiftly when needed, and continued to run our restaurants at a high level,” Kempczinski said. “The US food safety issue is now largely behind us, and we expect to have fully recovered by the beginning of Q2.”
Photo: ©OASISAMUEL – STOCK.ADOBE.COMKempczinski added that in addition to focusing on value menus to help generate customer traffic in 2025, “we’re excited about the significant opportunity we see within our chicken portfolio and see the potential to add another point of chicken market share by the end of 2026. We continue to roll out McCrispy, which is now in over 70 markets and will be available in nearly all markets by the end of 2025,” he said. “This year, there’s incredible energy for the return of snack wraps in the US, along with a few other markets, and the US will also launch a new chicken strip offering. We will continue to pulse in the Chicken Big Mac as a limited-time only offering. In 2024, the Chicken Big Mac helped generate chicken market share growth in France and the US with positive incrementality.”
Kempczinski also said beverage growth is another area the company is exploring to generate sales, having already launched the beverage-centric CosMc’s brand in 2023, currently with four locations in Texas and one in Illinois.
“We are very bullish on the opportunity in beverages, and we think there’s a lot of growth potential, whether it’s hot or iced coffee, or emerging beverage areas like refreshers and energy drinks,” he said. “The learning with CosMc’s continues. We’re closing some stores, we’re adding some stores. What we’re learning is there’s certainly an opportunity in that space. The smaller units [with a drive-through] tend to perform better.”
2025 outlook
The 2025 financial forecast for McDonald’s reflects the current environment of softer, declining restaurant industry traffic in the US and many of the company’s larger markets, said Ian Borden, executive vice president, chief financial officer, McDonald’s.
“Regardless of the operating environment, we remain steadfast on the execution of our accelerating the arches strategy,” he said. “Our financial targets for 2025 reflect the benefit of these initiatives, as well as our expectation of gradual stabilization of the macroeconomic and consumer environment but does not include any impact from potential new tariffs. Should the underlying environment improve beyond our initial expectations, especially with respect to lower-income consumers, we would expect to benefit disproportionately relative to our competitors.”
Borden added that driven by the durability of McDonald’s business model, the company is targeting the full-year operating margin to be in the mid-to-high 40% range, and above the 46% adjusted operating margin from 2024, primarily due to franchise margin performance.
Total 2024 revenues for McDonald’s were $25.9 billion, an increase from $25.4 billion in 2023 revenues. Franchised restaurants brought in $15.7 billion in 2024, compared to $15.4 billion in 2023. Company owned-and-operated restaurants contributed $9.78 billion, up from $9.74 billion last year.
McDonald’s said it plans to grow the number of restaurants further in 2025, with 2,200 stores scheduled to open — about 4% unit growth compared to last year — with 25% of those openings in the US and the company’s five largest wholly owned international markets.
Based on the 2024 earnings report and 2025 forecast, McDonald’s stock rose 4.8% on Monday to $308.42 per share. This year marks McDonald’s 70th anniversary, and the 50th anniversary of the restaurant chain offering a breakfast menu.
