McDonald’s Reports Q1 Earnings Amidst Sales Decline from Middle East Boycotts and US Customer Spending Slump

Fast food giant McDonald’s is set to release its first-quarter earnings before the opening bell on Tuesday. The company experienced lacklustre fourth-quarter sales due in part to boycotts sparked by discount offers made by its Israeli licensee for soldiers, which put pressure on sales in the Middle East and certain markets outside of this region. To mitigate protests regarding safety concerns, McDonald’s also had to temporarily close some locations. As a response, earlier this month, the company announced that it would acquire the 225 restaurants operated by its Israeli franchisee. In the US, low-income customers have been seen cutting back on their spending at McDonald’s outlets, and Wall Street analysts are forecasting domestic same-store sales growth of just 2.6% for this quarter according to estimates from StreetAccount. Shares in McDonald’s have dropped by 7.7% so far this year, resulting in a market value of $197bn at the present time.