MCD vs YUMC Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
McDonald's and Yum China both operate in the fast-food industry, but McDonald's is a globally diversified franchisor earning stable royalty income across many markets, while Yum China is entirely concentrated in the Chinese market, operating KFC and Pizza Hut under an exclusive license and offering direct, undiluted exposure to Chinese consumer spending trends.
McDonald's offers global diversification and a highly franchised, capital-light business model with stable royalty income, while Yum China offers concentrated exposure to China's fast-food market and consumer spending trends, with higher sensitivity to China-specific economic and regulatory conditions. Consider whether you prefer McDonald's global diversification or Yum China's focused China consumer exposure.
YUMC holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. YUMC leads on both 1-year return (-0.66%) and forward P/E quality (13.25x vs 18.96x for MCD), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, YUMC is growing revenue faster (12.60%), while MCD maintains the higher operating margin (46.48%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for YUMC (+38.66%) than for MCD (+19.01%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want global diversification across many markets rather than concentrated exposure to a single country
- Value a highly franchised, capital-light business model generating stable royalty and rent income
- Believe digital ordering and loyalty program engagement will continue driving same-store sales growth
- Prefer a well-established dividend-paying consumer staple-like restaurant holding
- Want concentrated exposure to China's fast-food market and Chinese consumer spending trends
- Believe continued new restaurant unit growth in China provides a durable structural growth driver
- Are comfortable with China-specific regulatory, currency, and geopolitical risk
- Value KFC's leading position as the top Western quick-service brand in China
| Metric | MCD | YUMC |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 49.1 | 36.2 |
| AI ranki | #562 | #1581 |
| Latest closei | $255.69 | $43.60 |
| 1M returni | -6.68% | -7.64% |
| 6M returni | -21.91% | -15.69% |
| 1Y returni | -19.19% | -0.66% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | MCD | YUMC |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $8.07K (-19.3%) started 2025-09-04 | $10.12K (+1.2%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $12.74K (+27.4%) started 2021-09-07 | $8K (-20.0%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $33.48K (+234.8%) started 2016-09-06 | $20.99K (+109.9%) started 2016-10-17 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | MCD | YUMC |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $187.53B | $15.24B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 21.51 | 16.45 |
| Forward P/Ei | 18.96 | 13.25 |
| Price/Salesi | 8.55 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 8.71 | 1.36 |
| Analyst targeti | $315.39 | $62.05 |
| Target upsidei | +19.01% | +38.66% |
| Metric | MCD | YUMC |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 3.70% | 12.60% |
| Earnings growthi | 5.70% | 21.40% |
| EPS growthi | +5.70% | +21.40% |
| FCF margini | +22.61% | +6.91% |
| Operating margini | 46.48% | 11.47% |
| Profit margini | 31.72% | 7.84% |
| ROIC proxyi | N/A | 16.81% |
| Return on equityi | N/A | 16.81% |
| Dividend yieldi | 2.81% | 2.58% |
| Betai | 0.42 | 0.08 |
| Debt/equityi | N/A | 37.98 |
| Current ratioi | 1.08 | 0.96 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.82 | 0.66 |
Over the past year, MCD and YUMC have moved weakly in the same direction (correlation of 0.28), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | MCD | YUMC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | -19.34% | -0.66% |
| CAGRi | -19.36% | -0.66% | |
| Volatilityi | 18.54% | 25.05% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -1.31 | -0.08 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -1.74 | -0.12 | |
| Max drawdowni | 25.03% | 29.82% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.03% | 23.37% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.81% | 10.81% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 12.58% | 14.23% | |
| Max daily dropi | 3.41% | 4.37% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.79% | 8.52% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +17.25% | -25.37% |
| CAGRi | +3.24% | -5.69% | |
| Volatilityi | 17.74% | 37.41% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.02 | -0.09 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.02 | -0.12 | |
| Max drawdowni | 25.03% | 53.84% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.03% | 28.59% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.11% | 24.01% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.17% | 26.81% | |
| Max daily dropi | 5.71% | 15.51% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 8.35% | 25.49% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +167.31% | +88.36% |
| CAGRi | +10.34% | +6.62% | |
| Volatilityi | 20.56% | 35.18% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.36 | 0.23 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.53 | 0.33 | |
| Max drawdowni | 36.90% | 56.49% | |
| Current drawdowni | 25.03% | 32.69% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.38% | 19.70% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.60% | 23.97% | |
| Max daily dropi | 15.88% | 15.51% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 27.07% | 25.49% |
| Category | MCD | YUMC |
|---|---|---|
| Company | McDonald's Corporation | Yum China Holdings, Inc. |
| Sector | Consumer Cyclical | Consumer Cyclical |
| Industry | Restaurants | Restaurants |
| Core business | Operates and franchises the world's largest fast-food restaurant chain, earning the majority of its profit from franchise royalties and rents across a global network of company-owned and franchised locations. | Operates KFC, Pizza Hut, and other restaurant brands exclusively in mainland China under a master license from Yum! Brands, making it the largest restaurant company in China by system sales. |
| Investor focus | Global same-store sales growth, franchise royalty and rent income stability, digital/loyalty program engagement, and international market performance. | China same-store sales trends amid consumer spending patterns, new unit growth, digital ordering penetration, and margin resilience amid value-focused promotions. |
- Highly franchised business model generates stable, high-margin royalty and rent income with limited capital intensity
- Massive global brand recognition and scale across tens of thousands of locations worldwide
- Growing digital ordering, delivery, and loyalty program engagement supporting same-store sales growth
- Dominant scale in China's fast-food market with KFC as the leading Western quick-service brand in the country
- High digital order penetration and loyalty program engagement across its restaurant network
- Continued new restaurant unit growth provides a structural growth driver beyond same-store sales
- Same-store sales growth can be pressured by value-conscious consumer spending in a challenging macro environment
- International markets expose McDonald's to currency fluctuations and geopolitical/consumer sentiment risk
- Faces ongoing competition from other quick-service restaurant chains and value-focused challengers
- Revenue and earnings are entirely concentrated in the Chinese market, with no geographic diversification
- Chinese consumer spending patterns and value-oriented promotional activity can pressure margins
- Regulatory, currency, and geopolitical risk specific to operating solely within China
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.