How to buy McDonald’s (MCD) stock

By:

James Knight

James is a lead editor for Invezz, where he covers topics from across the financial world, from the stock market, to cryptocurrency, to macroeconomic markets. His ... read more.

Updated: Mar 7, 2023

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A big part of learning how to buy McDonald’s stocks is finding the best place to make your investment. McDonald’s stocks are available to invest in through an online stock broker, and it usually takes just a few minutes to buy shares in McDonald’s when following our step by step guide.

Where to buy McDonald’s stock?

The best stock trading platform to use to buy McDonald’s stock is eToro .

Based on our research, we’ve ranked the top three brokers where you can buy McDonald’s shares, according to how easy they are to use, how low their fees are, their safety and security rating, and average customer reviews.

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1

Min. Deposit

$ 10

Best offer

User Score

10

Up to $240 bonus!

Deposit with ACA, Wire, Pay with my bank

Invest for dividends and get payout on stocks on Ex-Dividend day

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Payment Methods:

Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Wire Transfer

Full Regulations:

CySEC, FCA

77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

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How to buy stock in McDonald’s in 3 simple steps

Buying McDonald’s stock is quick and easy, all you need is an internet connection and a copy of your photo ID. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1. Sign up to eToro

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eToro is the best stock trading platform for beginners. Fill in your details to set up a brokerage account and attach a copy of your ID to verify it.

Most Popular

1

Min. Deposit

$ 10

Best offer

User Score

10

Up to $240 bonus!

Deposit with ACA, Wire, Pay with my bank

Invest for dividends and get payout on stocks on Ex-Dividend day

Start Trading more info

Payment Methods:

Bank Transfer, Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Wire Transfer

Full Regulations:

CySEC, FCA

77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

Step 2. Make a deposit

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Transfer money to your new account with your credit or debit card, a bank transfer, or an alternative payment method, like PayPal. The minimum deposit is £10.

Step 3. Buy McDonald’s shares

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Search for McDonald’s using the ticker, MCD. Click the ‘trade’ button and enter the details of your investment, such as how many shares you want to buy or how much you want to spend. Hit ‘trade now’ to invest in McDonald’s and complete your purchase.

It’s as easy as that! You can buy McDonald’s shares in just 10-15 minutes and now you’re a McDonald’s shareholder.

Compare the best platforms to buy McDonald’s stock

1. eToro. Best for beginners, copy-trading & demo-account

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2900

No. assets

$10

Minimum deposit

Stocks

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Great for beginners, simple to set up and get started Zero commission stock trading Popular ‘CopyTrader’ function lets you follow top traders Excellent customer service, with live chat support provided Over 2,000 CFDs available to trade

Comparatively high fees for withdrawals and account inactivity Does not integrate with the MetaTrader platform High spreads on some assets

Overview

We love eToro because you can trade more than 3,000 stocks, commission free. When you buy stocks on eToro, you’re buying the underlying asset, which means you can earn dividends. Or you can trade fractional shares, which means you can invest in even the most expensive stock from just $10.

As well as being a broker that offers lots of investor protection, eToro offers a very social trading experience. You can easily see what’s trending on the stock market every day, browse the latest analyst opinion about every one of those stocks, and copy other people’s trade suggestions from your desktop or the eToro app.

The fees: Stock and ETF trades are commission free. Stock CFDs are charged a 0.15% spread and overnight fees can apply. You can deposit money for free but you have to pay $5 per withdrawal, and there’s a minimum withdrawal of $30. A $10 per month activity fee is charged if you don’t log in for a year.

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77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

Fundamental analysis of McDonald’s shares

What is McDonald’s’s total worth?

McDonald’s’s total net worth is $197.97 billion. This is its total market capitalisation, calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding on a stock exchange by the current share price.

How has McDonald’s’s share price performed in recent years?

The current McDonald’s stock price today is $270.64, which is 2.79% below its all time high of $281.67, which it reached on 8 November 2022. 

Overall, MCD is up 72.12% over the last five years. The MCD share price is up 2.39% in 2023 with a 52 week high of $281.67 and a 52 week low of $217.68.

What is McDonald’s’s EPS?

McDonald’s’s EPS is $2.59. EPS stands for earnings per share and is calculated by dividing McDonald’s’s net profit by the number of shares outstanding. It gives you an idea of how valuable a company is.

What is the McDonald’s P/E ratio?

McDonald’s’s P/E ratio is 32.48. The P/E, or price to earnings ratio, tells you how much you would have to pay per share for $1 of McDonald’s’s earnings. 

It is calculated by dividing the share price by the earnings per share. You can use McDonald’s’s earnings estimates to predict its future (or forward) P/E and set a target price you think the stock can reach.

What is McDonald’s’s dividend yield?

McDonald’s’s dividend yield is %2.25. The dividend yield tells you how much of McDonald’s’s share price it gives back to shareholders in dividend payments every year.

Is McDonald’s stock a buy or sell?

The indicator below shows you live technical ratings for McDonald’s stock on time frames from one minute to one month. 

It tracks a selection of key technical indicators on live market data, including moving averages, relative strength index (RSI), oscillators, and momentum. 

This indicator should be used when you research McDonald’s to help you decide whether to buy McDonald’s shares. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. It is not investment advice or a recommendation from Invezz to buy this stock.

Is McDonald’s a good investment for me? 

The right answer is different for each person, so here is some information to help you decide whether to buy stocks in McDonald’s.

• McDonald’s is a big brand name with a worldwide reach. That recognition and global spread makes it the dominant force in the fast-food business while also helping it to maintain that position even during difficult times.
• A franchised model makes it less exposed to recessions. More than 90% of McDonald’s restaurants are run by franchisees, who lease the restaurant and pay a fee to the company. This helps McDonald’s keep its own operational costs much lower than if they operated every restaurant, which is a real positive during periods of economic strife.
• McDonald’s has consistently outperformed the S&P500 over the past decade. The share price is up 182% in the last ten years, which is more than the 175% return in the S&P500. It’s also more stable than the index, with fewer big dips and more continued growth.
• The company produces a lot of cash and is expected to keep growing earnings. Analysts predict McDonald’s earnings to keep growing at a rate of about 7% per year. This, combined with the fact it’s a company that generates a lot of hard cash – as opposed to spending it on investments or keeping it locked up in assets, means its financials are extremely healthy. A strong balance sheet means it can cope with difficult times and makes it a relatively safe investment.
• It has raised its dividend for 46 consecutive years. McDonald’s is one of the Dividend Aristocrats, a company that has raised its dividend for at least 25 years in a row. Combined with its stable share price growth and resistance to recessions, it makes for a very interesting opportunity for long term investors.
• Fast food companies are ripe for further regulation. Governments around the world have gradually introduced more laws to restrict the sale of unhealthy food and drinks, or to try to reduce fast-food restaurants’ impact on the environment. Some examples in recent years are the UK sugar tax and limits on the production of plastic straws. This is always a potential risk to McDonald’s’ earnings.

It’s always a good idea to think about any potential risks there might be as well. Use this summary of McDonald’s’s pros and cons before you make a final decision on whether to buy McDonald’s stock.

Are there other ways to buy shares in McDonald’s?

Yes, you can invest in McDonald’s stock in a few different ways. One option is to buy stock in McDonald’s directly through an investment platform as laid out above, while another popular choice is to invest in a fund. 

Mutual funds provide instant diversification to your investment portfolio by investing in lots of companies at once. You can invest in a S&P500 index fund to get exposure to McDonald’s, or choose a blue chip ETF.

Another option is to use a social copy trading platform, like eToro . Find a trader who you like and copy their McDonald’s trades directly to your own account. 

This can be a good investment strategy for beginners and a way to learn how to buy McDonald’s shares from someone with more experience.

What are the fees for investing in McDonald’s stock?

It depends on the stock broker. Some platforms charge a flat fee per trade, others charge a commission as a percentage of the total trade value each time you buy McDonald’s stocks.

Consider that there may be other costs to trading too. Other fees can include deposit and withdrawal fees, or inactivity fees if you don’t use your account for three months or more. 

These are the trading platforms that charge the lowest fees for buying stocks in McDonald’s.

How to sell McDonald’s stock

When you decide the time is right to sell and lock in some profit (or cut your losses), log into your broker account and navigate to your portfolio. 

From there, find your McDonald’s stock and you’ll see a ‘sell’ option next to it. Click that to set the details of the trade (you don’t have to sell all your stocks at once) and sell back to cash.

Should I buy McDonald’s stock now?

It’s your investing goals and style that define whether now is a good time to buy. The current McDonald’s stock price plays into it but ultimately it depends on your investment horizons.

• If you’re a short term trader: the goal is to make money by buying and selling stocks regularly to secure a profit or avoid a loss. That can mean trading hourly, daily, or weekly but the focus is always on the near future. Traders learn how to buy stocks in McDonald’s based on short term technical analysis and don’t hold shares for a long time, so any time can be a good time to buy MCD.

• If you’re a long term investor: you’re more interested in long term price appreciation than whether a stock is up or down on any given day. The important thing is finding a stock with a strong foundation where you think the share price will be up over a period of months or years. If you think McDonald’s’s fundamentals are solid then the best time to invest in McDonald’s stock is after a dip or a pullback in price.

Most new traders sit somewhere between these two positions. You don’t want to actively trade McDonald’s stock all hours of the day but you don’t want to wait years for a return either.

Either way, following MCD price news and analysis will help you decide when to dip your toe into the market.

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