72794Corporate_Action193171752/Articles/Corporate_ActionCorporate Action43579708BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000317342McDonald's profit jumps 24%McDonald-s-profit-jumps-241208978040000McDonald's Corp. recently posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit, boosted by strong overseas sales. false1246215738223BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000317343435797080McDonald's Corp. recently posted higher-than-expected quarterly profit, boosted by strong overseas sales.<br><br>The company also repurchased $2 billion shares of its stock during the quarter.<br>The
world's largest restaurant chain operator had net income of $946.1
million, or 81 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with its
year-earlier net income of $762.4 million, or 62 cents per share.<br>Analysts, on average, had been looking for a profit of 70 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.<br>Revenue
rose 6 percent to $5.61 billion. Analysts on average had been looking
for $5.55 billion. Sales at stores open at least 13 months rose 7.4
percent.<br><br>Same-store sales rose 2.9 percent in the quarter in the
United States, 11.1 percent in Europe and 9.4 percent in the
Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa segment.<br>McDonald's and rival
hamburger seller Burger King Holdings Inc. have been outperforming the
overall U.S. restaurant sector, which has been hobbled by high gas and
food prices, a slumping jobs market and falling home values.<br><br>McDonald's
has been appealing to cash-strapped U.S. consumers with a selection of
low-priced menu items ranging from coffee drinks to hamburgers.<br>McDonald's
shares traded at $58.80 on Tuesday in premarket electronic trading, up
from the $58.67 close Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.<br>As of Monday, shares in McDonald's were up 21 percent over the last year.<br><br><a href="http://www.mcdonalds.com/">McDonald's Corp.</a><br>Oak Brook, Ill.872794Corporate_Action193171752/Articles/Corporate_ActionCorporate Actiontrue
