McDonald’s is synonymous with fast food, but the company has really upped its game in recent years, offering more quality food. The public company is primarily a franchisor, earning royalties from tens of thousands of McDonald’s locations in about 120 countries. The company reported a profit of nearly $7.1 billion in 2021, and fourth-quarter revenue rose 13.8% year over year, the highest growth ever.
If you’re considering buying McDonald’s stock, here’s how and what you need to know before you decide.
1. Analysis of McDonald’s and its financials
Analyzing a company’s competitive position and financial health can be the hardest part of buying stocks, but it’s also the most important. The best place to start is the company’s Form 10-K, which is the annual report that all public companies must file with the SEC.
10-K 可以幫助您更了解公司：
- 怎麼賺錢以及賺多少錢
- its assets and liabilities
- 隨著時間的推移，它會產生獲利能力
- 競爭格局
- 公司面臨的各種風險
- 管理團隊以及如何激勵他們
An annual report is an important first step to learning more about your company, but you want to do more than that. You should check what other companies are doing to compete as it is important to have a broader view of the industry.
McDonald’s, for example, operates in the highly competitive fast-food segment, competing with well-known rivals such as Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC and Chick-fil-A. In addition to coffee and breakfast, McDonald’s competes with Starbucks and Dunkin’ for breakfast. In recent years, Golden Arches has introduced all-day breakfast to keep up with some competitors, who often use advertising campaigns and new product launches to retain customers.
2. Does McDonald’s make sense in your portfolio?
McDonald’s is one of 30 stocks on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, making it a blue chip and one of the most popular stocks for investors. While McDonald’s seems to be everywhere, it still has room to expand, which means the company has the potential to continue growing. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy, however, and companies have to adapt to changing consumer habits.
所以你應該問自己以下問題：
- 您了解該業務及其未來前景嗎？
- 隨著您的業務和行業的發展，您能繼續分析它嗎？
- Do you understand the value of the company and how it compares to the current market value?
- McDonald’s Pays a Dividend – Does It Fit Your Needs?
If you’re just buying a little McDonald’s as an entry location, or have more impact on the game, these considerations may not be as important as a full location.
3.您能承擔多少投資？
How much you can afford to invest has less to do with McDonald’s and more to do with your personal financial situation. Stocks can be volatile. So, to give your investment time to pay off, you should be able to keep your money in stocks for at least three to five years. This means you should be able to live without money for at least that long.
It’s important to commit to holding the stock for at least three to five years. You hate having to sell a stock when it’s nearing a bottom, only to see it bounce higher after you exit your position. By sticking to a long-term plan, you can ride out the ups and downs of the stock.
If you invest in individual stocks, you should probably keep the percentage of each individual position between 3% and 5%. That way, you’re not seriously exposed to investments that wreck your portfolio. You can choose a lower percentage than this range if the stock has a higher business risk.
另外，不要只將一筆錢投資於股票，而要考慮如何隨著時間的推移而向該部位增加資金。
4. 開設經紀帳戶
雖然開設經紀帳戶聽起來很困難，但實際上非常簡單，您可以在大約 15 分鐘內完成所有設定。
您應該選擇適合您需求的經紀人。您經常交易還是很少交易？您需要高水準的服務或研究嗎？對您來說，成本是最重要的因素嗎？如果您購買少量股票但主要投資於基金，一些經紀商專門為這些基金提供免佣金交易。
After opening an account, you should deposit sufficient funds to purchase McDonald’s stock. But you can do this completely online, and it’s easy.
5. Buy McDonald’s stock
Once you decide to buy McDonald’s stock and open and fund your brokerage account, you can place your order. When entering your order, please use the company’s ticker symbol – MCD.
Most brokers have a “trade ticket” at the bottom of every page so you can enter your order. On the broker’s order, enter the code and how many shares you can afford. Then enter the order type: market or limit. A market order buys a stock regardless of the current price, while a limit order is only executed when the stock reaches the price you set.
If you’re just buying a few shares — McDonald’s has gone from $235 to around $252 in the past year — you’re sticking to the market order. Even if you pay more for a market order now, if the stock continues to perform well, it won’t have much of an impact on long-term performance.
底線
Buying stocks can be exciting, but success doesn’t happen overnight. Investors should take a long-term view of their investments, and if they believe the stock is long-term, they should consider using dollar cost averages.
按照美元平均成本，投資者隨著時間的推移會在其頭寸中增加一定數量的資金，這在股票下跌時確實有幫助，並允許他們購買更多股票。高漲的股票有時會下跌，因此該策略可以幫助您獲得更低的買入價格和更高的整體利潤。
