McDonald’s Says it Will Continue to Offer Investors Good Value in 2008

(NewsVisual, powered by IntellectSpace) --McDonald’s Corp (NYSE: MCD) announced on Monday that its fourth-quarter 2007 earnings chalked up its eighth consecutive quarter with positive results.

Specifically, the company’s Q4 consolidated operating income increased 22 percent, which resulted in earnings per share of $1.06; and currency conversion added approximately $0.04 per share, the company said in a statement.

The company also announced that it repurchased over $1.3 billion of its own stock.  Hence, for the full-year 2007, it returned $5.7 billion to shareholders through dividends paid and through its repurchase program.

"We remain committed to maintaining fiscal discipline and enhancing shareholder value,” said CEO Jim Skinner in the company’s statement.

Skinner emphasize in the following comments that McDonald’s remains committed to paying out dividends over the next few years:

"McDonald’s Board of Directors has decided that beginning in 2008, dividends declared will be paid on a quarterly basis. On January 24, 2008, McDonald’s Board of Directors declared a dividend for the first quarter of 2008 of $0.375 per share payable on March 17, 2008 to shareholders of record on March 3, 2008.”

The markets, however, appeared to be giving McDonald’s news the cold shoulder.   The company’s share price was down from the previous close of $51.07 to $50.67 in mid-morning trading on Tuesday (10:18am ET).

When NewsVisual reported on McDonald’s new coffee bar initiative on Jan 7, we created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map in order to illustrate who currently sat on the company’s Board of Directors and whether they were likely to offer its Management Team sound business advice about the retail market.

The Knowledge Map shows that several of McDonald’s current Directors have business connections with other retail-related companies.

The most notable example is Director Jeanne P Jackson who also serves on the boards of Nordstrom Inc and Nike Inc.

But Director Richard H Lenny, the CEO/President/Chairman of the Hershey Co, undoubtedly has the experience of being able to advise McDonald’s on how it can retain its traditional customer base, while the company seeks to expand the range of its product offerings.

Furthermore, Director Walter E Massey, who sits on the Bank of America’s Board of Directors, could also advise on market issues like price sensitivity, which will play a large role in determining the successfulness of any new products.

(Note: the information contained and presented in Knowledge Maps is public information from the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States of America).

Click here or copy this link into your Internet Explorer browser for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map: http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=990a24e5-81a7-4a67-8118-6125702f5cf2