MCD Report: Initial Purchase After Limit Trigger
Since my Sunday limit order of 220 EUR didn’t execute until today—Tuesday—via U.S. futures due to the U.S. Labor Day holiday, McDonald’s (MCD) is now officially an initial purchase in my portfolio. Here’s my take on this, also in response to the posts by
@Simpson , @PoorDad@DividendenAristrokat and @Genna over the past few days.
Why I’m buying now
I’ve always admired MCD historically, but it never made it into my portfolio—the returns over the past few years have been meager to negative, depending on the entry point. That’s exactly what has changed recently: The stock hit a new 52-week low on August 27–28 and slipped to around 219–221 EUR on the Frankfurt/Xetra exchange, after hitting its 52-week high of 287–291 EUR (or 341.75 USD) as recently as March 2. As a result, MCD is currently trading about 17–18% below its annual high—a price range that is, of course, the subject of heated debate in the community, with opinions ranging from “under $200” to “all-time high above $300.”
At the same time, over the past few years I have consistently divested myself of traditional consumer goods stocks such as
$NESN (-0,33%)
$KO (+0,52%)
$BN (-0,96%) because their performance has been underwhelming. With MCD, I’m now strategically diversifying back into the consumer sector— $PEP (-1,69%) which is the only remaining stock from this category that I’m still holding anyway.
Valuation at the Time of Purchase
As of today, Tuesday, MCD is trading in premarket at around $255.70 (following a previous day’s close of $259.63), which corresponds to a price of around 220 EUR in Frankfurt—exactly where my limit was set. For context, here are the key metrics:
Current price (USD/EUR) | approx. 255.7 USD / approx. 220 EUR |
|52-week high | 341.75 USD / 287–291 EUR
| 52-week low | approx. $255–260 / approx. €219–221 (late Aug./early Sept. 2026
P/E Ratio (TTM) | approx. 20.8 |
Dividend Yield (TTM) | approx. 3.0% |
52-Week Performance | approx. -16.5% to -17.8%
Furthermore, the effect of the weak euro in previous years is currently reversing: The EUR/USD exchange rate is currently around 1.16, after the euro strengthened by about 0.5–0.7% against the dollar last month. This means that a USD dividend from McDonald’s, when converted into euros, tends to yield slightly more again as long as this trend continues—an additional argument in favor of buying in, especially for European dividend investors like me.
Holiday Effect on Monday
The low trading volume on German exchanges on Monday was indeed due to the U.S. Labor Day holiday—without U.S. trading, the price barely moved in Germany, which is why my limit order wasn’t actually triggered until U.S. futures opened on Tuesday. This is consistent with trading volumes, which are regularly very thin on holidays without U.S. market activity.
Strategy: Add to the position if the price falls further
Should MCD fall even further, I will—similar to my
Microsoft position—
Thank you @Multibagger 300 😴
. The wide range of discussion—from below $200 all the way back to the all-time high above $300—shows that opinions on fair valuation vary widely; I view the current level near the 52-week low as a solid starting point for an initial position, which I can strategically build upon during periods of weakness.
