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 表可以帮助您了解很多有关公司的信息：
- 它如何赚钱以及赚多少钱
- its assets and liabilities
- 其盈利能力随着时间的推移而发展
- 竞争格局
- 公司面临的各类风险
- 管理团队以及如何激励他们
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.
因此你应该问自己以下问题：
- 您了解该业务及其未来前景吗？
- 随着您的业务和行业的发展，您能继续对其进行分析吗？
- 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. 您能承受多少投资？
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.
此外，不要只是将一大笔钱投资于股票，还要考虑如何随着时间的推移增加资金。
4. 开立经纪账户
虽然开设经纪账户听起来很困难，但实际上非常简单，您只需大约 15 分钟即可完成所有设置。
您应该选择一家适合您需求的经纪人。您经常交易还是很少交易？您需要高水平的服务或研究吗？成本对您来说是最重要的因素吗？如果您购买少量股票但主要投资于基金，一些经纪商会为这些基金提供专门的免佣金交易。
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.
底线
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.
通过美元平均成本，投资者会随着时间的推移向其头寸增加一定数量的资金，这在股票下跌时确实有帮助，并允许他们购买更多。高涨的股票有时也会下跌，所以这种策略可以帮助你获得更低的买入价格和更高的总体利润。
