McDonald’s Corp (NYSE:MCD) shares rose Wednesday after the company's fourth-quarter results revealed its highest comparable sales growth in a decade and beat Street expectations.
The company saw earnings of $1.97 per share, unchanged year-over-year, which narrowly topped expectations of $1.96. Revenue came in at $5.35 billion, 4% higher and above Street estimates of $5.31 billion.
Shares initially climbed in premarket trading but fell back to nearly even at the open, up less than 0.1% to $210.79.
READ: McDonald’s chief executive steps down over relationship with employee
The biggest positive indicator, though, was comparable sales growth, which increased 5.9% from last year, ahead of Wall Street analysts’ call of 5.3%.
CEO Chris Kempczinski, who took over in November after Steve Easterbrook resigned following a relationship with an employee, said the figure is the company’s best mark in more than a decade.
Prior to his departure, Easterbrook laid the foundation for more modernized stores. Last year, the company bought Apprente, a company utilizing artificial intelligence to understand drive-thru orders and Dynamic Yield, a technology firm focused on personalizing customer interactions, according to a StreetInsider report.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel