McDonald's (MCD) closed the most recent trading day at $257.71, moving -1.42% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.08%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 4.81%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's biggest hamburger chain had lost 1.52% over the past month, outpacing the Retail-Wholesale sector's loss of 4.47% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 0.64% in that time.

McDonald's will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be January 27, 2022. In that report, analysts expect McDonald's to post earnings of $2.31 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 35.88%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.03 billion, up 13.41% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for McDonald's. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.69% higher. McDonald's is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, McDonald's is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 25.38. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 21.61, which means McDonald's is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that MCD has a PEG ratio of 2.22. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. MCD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.84 as of yesterday's close.

The Retail - Restaurants industry is part of the Retail-Wholesale sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 219, which puts it in the bottom 15% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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