Shares of McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD) are higher this morning, after the fast food juggernaut topped second-quarter expectations with profits earnings of $3.19 per share on revenue of $6.84 billion. The company highlighted marketing efforts, which included a promotional tie-in with "A Minecraft Movie," as well as recent menu changes such as the introduction of chicken strips.
At last glance, the equity was up 3% at $307.75, trading at its highest level since June and on track for its biggest single-day percentage gain since April 22. The equity is also enjoying support from the 20-day moving average, which contained several pullbacks in the last month. Longer term, MCD sports a 13.9% year-over-year lead.
Despite McDonald's recent success, concerns around its ability to retain low-income consumers has the brokerage bunch on edge. Of the 33 firms in coverage, 18 still call MCD a "hold" or worse, indicating the security could benefit from a round of upgrades.
Options traders have been much more bullish than usual over the past 10 days. This is per the equity's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 1.76 at the International Securities (ISE), Cboe Options (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks higher than 82% of readings from the past year.
Over in the options pits today, options volume is running at two times the typical intraday average amount, with 12,000 calls and 9,374 puts traded. The most popular contract is the 8/8 weekly 310-strike call, where new positions are currently being opened.
