Jan. 20--McDonald's is looking better in the eyes of Wall Street.
An analyst on Wednesday said he expects the world's largest burger chain to report its best same-store sales in nearly four years when it reports fourth-quarter results next week. Same-store sales, or sales at restaurants open at least a year, are a key measure of company health because they strip out the benefit of newly opened stores.
Mark Kalinowski of investment firm Nomura now believes that McDonald's same-store sales grew 4.1 percent in the last three months of 2015, based on a survey of McDonald's franchisees, who operate most of the chain's restaurants. That's well higher than the average growth forecast among other analysts, currently 2.5 percent.
McDonald's reported its first U.S. sales improvement in two years in the third quarter and said it expected that trend to continue in the fourth quarter.
Kalinowski also raised his first-quarter same-store sales growth prediction to 3.8 percent.
He stuck by his earnings forecasts for the fourth quarter and the current full year but reiterated his recommendation that investors buy the stock, saying it's now his top pick among all large restaurant company stocks.
McDonald's shares closed down $1.69 at $115.81 amid a downturn in the broader market. It is near a year high of $120.23 and has traded as low as $87.50 in the last 12 months.
sbomkamp@tribpub.com
