McDonald's is killing it on Wall Street

If you invested in McDonald&#039;s back in 1970, it&#039;s time for you to retire.

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

last updated 11 January 2015

As McDonald's continues to evolve, revamping its fat-drenched menu with healthy-ish McWrap sandwiches and working to mend what one executive reportedly described as "broken" customer service, the ubiquitous burger chain's stock price is hitting record numbers — it closed above $103 per share on Friday — and analysts are predicting that it will continue to climb.

UBS, the Swiss global financial service, raised its price target for McDonald's Corp this week to $110, setting the upside at $125.

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The company has had an average annual growth rate of 5.4 percent in revenues and an average annual growth rate of net income of 15.7 percent over the period of 2003-12. This shows the profit margin that the company possesses has been increasing at a faster rate than the revenues. In its last annual report, the company increased the cash dividends by 10 percent to $0.77 for the fourth quarter, bringing the current annual dividend to $3.08 per share. This suggests the management has provided return to its shareholders for its strong business performance. [Seeking Alpha]

Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.

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