McDonald's (MCD) To Launch Plant-Based Burger Test In Canada

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) recently announced its three-month trial of a new plant-based burger P.L.T., (Plant. Lettuce. Tomato.) in collaboration with Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND), in Canada. Notably, the plant-based burger will be priced at $6.49 CAD, excluding tax. McDonald’s lovers can avail this burger starting Sep 30, which will be sold across 28 restaurants in Southwestern Ontario.

The Chicago-based burger giant solely designed the new patty. McDonald’s believes that the P.L.T., made with Beyond Meat’s plant-based patty with a warm, soft, sesame seed bun and free from artificial flavors and preservatives, will deliver iconic taste to customers. Global tests like these are likely to drive innovation, enabling the company to stay laser-focused for further measures. Ann Wahlgren, McDonald's vice president of Global Menu Strategy, stated that “During this test, we're excited to hear what customers love about the P.L.T. to help our global markets better understand what's best for their customers.”

Innovation to Drive the Top Line

McDonald’s is the world’s largest chain of fast-food restaurants with presence in more than 38,000 locations over 100 countries. It has reached the billion-dollar brand status through sustained product innovation and geographic expansion.

Apart from sales-building initiatives, McDonald’s strategic transformation plan to drive growth, efforts to boost the domestic business through various digital initiatives and refranchising efforts bode well. In second-quarter 2019, global comps grew 6.5%, marking its 16th straight quarter of positive comps. Moreover, U.S comps were up 5.7% in the period.

The company aims at improving its focus on growing guest traffic, operational excellence, product innovation, offering a value menu and rolling out more limited-time offerings. Bacon roll breakfast sandwich and the Taste of America burgers LTO were also a success in the reported quarter.

Year to date, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 19.7%, underperforming the industry’s 26% growth.

Key Picks

Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the same space include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) , Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DNKN) and Restaurant Brands International Inc. (NYSE:QSR) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Chipotle, Dunkin' and Restaurant brands have an impressive long-term earnings growth rate of 18.5%, 9.8% and 9.5%, respectively.

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