McDonald's profit up

"McDonald's 1Q profit rises nearly 4 percent"
by Lauren Shepherd

With all the economic problems that we have been having in the last few months, I am suprise that there are any company's that can report that they have any type of profit but as i read this article posted by the AP, McDonald's has a 4% profit for their 1Q.

According to Chief Executive Jim Skinner, their majory sales is of their chicken, breakfast, and beverages. Their new chicken menu and espresso drinks are what are helping to boost sales for several quarters now because more and more people what their espresso, which is even out ruling Starbucks which them themselves are lossing out in profits because of the economic problems, as well as cutting jobs, and closing stores. McDonald's have analysts who say that their new espresso could make fast-food chain a big player and even believe that they will rule over Starbucks.

Last year an Oak Brook based McDonalds and about $946.1 million and this year they have earned $979.5 million. Even over seas their sales are up at about 4.3% in their first quarter with the US being 4.7%. Even though that is not a big jump up or even a big raise in their first quarter but it is a raise of profits that could help the economic.

There were some place that did not see an increase in profits is Germany and China. There have been some places that closed down because some people would want to eat at home or eat somewhere that is cheap. Even thought McDonalds does have a cheat menu from somewhere places but someone people do believe in that they can save more money by going somewhere that sales food every cheap, which is somewhat way some would just eat at home then eat out.

They did say that once the economic start to get back to normal and gets better, they are planning to launch their new handburger, the Angus Burger, in all of their location. They believe that their Angus Burger will sale big and that a lot of people like them. But my mom tried their Angus Burger and she did not like it at all. As she said, the burger tasted horribly and she would never eat one again because there was not flavor.

They state that when they change currencies from the foreign countries, they lose out in revenues because of the translation. When they change currencies their sales fall about 10%, which if their sales are $5.61 billion it comes out to $5.08 billion.

I don't care to eat at McDonald's and some times the food is just like eating left overs that don't taste good after being rewarmed up many times. But the fact that their menu is cheap, a family of four can eat for about $25.00, well just about anywhere else it can cost $30 or $40. I know that as being a student, I can eat at McDonald's for $5.00.

The one that the article does not say is what the dollar amount of the item that sold the most. All that the article states is that they have three items that are the best saling items but they don't state how much they made off of any of the items. They also don't say what their top saler is for the quarter. They also don't state which one of their stores had the strongest sales for the quarter or which state brought in the highest percentage from their sales. Also no where in the article do they have an customers opinions on what is their best item that they have or what people think about there being a profit. They also don't state what is the age group of those that eat at McDonald's. There are different age groups adn it could a mix of different age groups or it could be just one age group that is making up the profit of their food.

There is some research information missing in that they don't have any age group, which state had the highest profit, or what saled the most for the profit. Yes, they do state that they have three items that are their best salers and that their espresso have a high profit but what is that profit? It is 2% or 3.5%? They have a profit gross but they don't state what was their hightest profit growth was.

What could their sales be next quarter if they are reporting an increase in sales this time? They do not state if they think that they will have an increase in sales for next quarter, if they will stay the same, or fell. That would be something that they should somewhat think about because if they are predicting that they are doing good then they should be able to know if they are going to be doing good for next quarter.

The article does end that when this article saying that "Its shares fell $1.38 or 2.5%, to close at $54.25 Wednesday." What does that mean? They don't say anything at to what that could mean or what they are talking about here. To me they are saying that when they closed on Wednesday, April 22nd, they had a lose in profits, or are the saying that if their shares fell this is what could happen? The last part of the article is not clear at all and is somewhat confussing because they are saying that they have a profit but then they are saying that their shares fell. They need to make this point a little more clearer.