By Sam Boughedda
A BMO Capital Markets analyst maintained an Outperform rating and upped the firm's price target on McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) to $300 per share in a note to clients Tuesday.
The analyst told investors that they believe McDonald's is in the early days of realizing accelerated growth and share gains in Europe as the "pandemic propelled improvements in MCD's competitive positioning in these key IOM markets."
"We first outlined this opportunity in our mid-2020 deep dive," said the analyst. "With two additional years of data in this report, 1) MCD's progress is evident, and 2) we see ample runway for MCD to continue capturing stronger performance in Europe into the future. We view this as supportive of MCD's long-term growth outlook."
The analyst feels the fast food giant is benefiting in Europe, and ample runway remains for accelerated performance based on a review of additional data.
"Restaurant transactions still well off pre-pandemic levels, supporting further opportunity. Total restaurant transactions in 2021 across MCD's top 10 Europe markets in IOM segment remained ~20% below pre-COVID levels. 2022 likely marked further recovery, but still well below 2019 similar to U.S.," concluded the analyst.