McDonald’s stock has plenty of upside despite concerning signs about the fast food industry broadly, according to Goldman Sachs. Analyst Christine Cho upgraded the restaurant stock to buy from neutral, saying in a note to clients that McDonald’s is better positioned than its rivals to win over customers who are feeling strain in their wallets. “We believe MCD ultimately has the scale/marketing/digital advantage to successfully navigate through this environment. Management has firmly committed to market share gains through product and marketing innovation (including return of snack wraps, addition of daily double burger to the McValue platform in the US), and we think this could drive a reversal to positive comp trends,” Cho said. The early signs from McDonald’s menu changes have been positive and point toward the company taking share from other burger brands, Cho added. McDonald’s once popular chicken Snack Wrap returns to menus Thursday. “MCD has maintained [mid single digits] YoY observed sales growth while other fast food peers have slowed to [low single digits]/negative YoY observed sales growth,” the note said. The upgrade comes as the fast food giant’s stock has been struggling. Shares of McDonald’s are up just 1% year to date, and down 2.5% over the past month. For comparison, the S & P 500 is up about 6.5% year to date. MCD YTD mountain Shares of McDonald’s are underperforming in 2025. Cho kept her price target on McDonald’s at $345 per share. That is about 18% above where the stock closed Wednesday. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
