McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) missed expectations for both earnings and revenue in the third quarter, sending its shares falling. The company reported earnings per share of $2.11 on revenue of $5.4 billion for the quarter. Analysts expected the company to report earnings per share of $2.21 on revenue of $5.5 billion. The company’s shares fell nearly 4 percent after the figures were released.
A big factor in the disappointing results was softer than expected domestic comparable sales. The company reported that U.S. same-store sales grew 4.8 percent during the quarter, falling short of analysts’ estimates of 5.2 percent growth. The company pointed to a decline in traffic to U.S. locations for the results.
The company also reported better-than-expected same-store sales growth abroad. International same-store sales increased by 5.9 percent, more than the 5.7 percent expected. Overall, global same-store sales grew by 5.9 percent, higher than the 5.6 percent expected.
McDonald’s hopes that ramping up its availability on food delivery apps will help accelerate growth. The company has announced partnerships with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub to expand delivery of its products to more locations. The company has also been aggressively investing in technology to improve the customer’s drive-thru experience.
Over the last seven months, McDonald’s has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire technology companies. In March of this year, the burger behemoth spent $300 million to buy Dynamic Yield in its biggest acquisition in more than 20 years. In September, McDonald’s announced plans to buy voiced-based tech company Apprente.
