Dow Today: McDonald's Corporation (MCD) Higher

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading up 97 points (+0.7%) at 13,097 as of Friday, Aug 31, 2012, 10:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 121.6 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 606.1 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,841 issues advancing vs. 918 declining with 172 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which is sporting a 77-cent gain (+0.9%) bringing the stock to $89.47. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 5.83 points or roughly accounting for 6% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for McDonald's Corporation currently sits at 2.5 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of six million shares.

McDonald's Corporation has a market cap of $90.41 billion and is part of the services sector and leisure industry. Shares are down 10.6% year to date as of Thursday'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 revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.

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

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

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• McDonald's Corporation Income Statement