McDonald's is Well Positioned to Handle Any Economic Challenges

McDonald's Corp. (MCD) slapped a few more hamburger patties on the grill in January and is expected to keep them coming, despite ongoing worries of a consumer-led U.S. recession, says Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kron.

In a note to clients the analyst said:

We continue to expect near-term economic challenges to impact sales at restaurants broadly in 1Q, but believe McDonald’s is well positioned to navigate these challenges owing to its tiered menu platform and every day value focus.

Further, we expect the new beverage platform (should be more meaningful to results later this year) to further extend McDonald’s reach and drive relative sales outperformance.

On Friday, McDonald's said that same store sales in January rose 5.7% over last year, with U.S. sales increasing 1.9% year-over-year. In Europe, comparable sales were up 8.2% and in Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, sales were 7.8%.

Mr. Kron left his $3.17 earnings per share estimate for 2008, and his $65 price target on McDonald's shares, unchanged.