McDonald's (MCD) Q2 2026 Earnings Report

The call conveyed mixed but constructive momentum: core financials and global initiatives remain strong (system-wide sales growth, EPS growth, margins, loyalty scale, beverage early success, international performance and disciplined development), while the U.S. business showed clear execution, operations and marketing shortcomings that materially weighed on quarterly comparable sales. Management laid out concrete remediation steps (calendar simplification, reallocation of marketing, reinstating targeted digital offers, franchise discussions) and previewed a longer-term McDonald's > NEXT strategy, but near-term U.S. execution risk and select market weaknesses temper enthusiasm.

McDonald’s guidance highlighted a Q2 system‑wide sales increase of 4% in constant currency and global comparable sales up 1.3% (1H system‑wide +5% CC; 1H comps +2.5%), with U.S. comps +0.8% in Q2 (+2.3% 1H), IOM comps +1.5% and IDL comps +1.9%; Q2 adjusted EPS was $3.38 (≈+5% on a constant‑currency basis, including a $0.03 FX benefit) and management now assumes about a $0.15 full‑year 2026 FX tailwind to adjusted EPS (versus a prior $0.20–$0.30 range). They generated >$4 billion of Q2 restaurant margins, reported YTD adjusted operating margin of 46.9%, expect G&A to be ~2.2% of system‑wide sales for the year, plan to open ~2,600 gross restaurants in 2026, pushed the 50,000‑store target to 2028, and noted loyalty is nearly 220 million active users and delivery generates >$20 billion of annual system sales. Near‑term actions/guidance include launching national digital flash offers next week, reallocating 2H marketing to proven value offers (EVMs), simplifying restaurant deployments/eliminating non‑customer‑facing activities, continuing select company‑owned divestitures in 2026+, anticipating GBS benefits to begin lowering G&A % in 2027, and management estimates value execution issues drove roughly two‑thirds of the U.S. traffic shortfall.