Dow Today: McDonald's Corporation (MCD) Leads The Day Higher, International Business Machines (IBM) Lags

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed down 31.0 points (-0.2%) at 12,573. During the day, 726.8 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 685.4 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio closed at 1,108 issues advancing vs. 1,896 declining with 115 unchanged.

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The Dow component that led the way higher today was McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which sported a $2.40 gain (+2.7%) bringing the stock to $91.93. Volume for McDonald's Corporation ended the day at 11.6 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 6.6 million shares.

McDonald's Corporation has a market cap of $91.72 billion and is part of the services sector and leisure industry. Shares are down 10% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 3.1%.

McDonald's Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates McDonald's restaurants primarily in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company has a P/E ratio of 16.9, equal to the average leisure industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates McDonald's Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its growth in earnings per share, revenue growth, expanding profit margins, good cash flow from operations and solid stock price performance. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.

• You can view the full McDonald's Ratings Report.

Holding the Dow back today was International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lagged the broader Dow index with a $2.16 decline (-1.2%) bringing the stock to $183.09. This single loss is lowering the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 16.35 points or roughly accounting for 52.7% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for International Business Machines ended the day at 4.9 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 4.1 million shares.

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International Business Machines has a market cap of $214.85 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are up 1.3% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.8%.

International Business Machines Corporation provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.9, equal to the average computer hardware industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates International Business Machines as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full International Business Machines Ratings Report.

 

For more information on McDonald's Corporation click any of the following:

• McDonald's Corporation Stock Price

• McDonald's Corporation Analyst Ratings

• McDonald's Corporation Key Stats & Profile

• McDonald's Corporation Earnings

• McDonald's Corporation Ratio Comparison

• McDonald's Corporation Growth Rates

• McDonald's Corporation Balance Sheet

• McDonald's Corporation Cash Flow

• McDonald's Corporation Income Statement