Back to all assets

McDonald's MCD

equity

Price History

$3.17$115.8$228.43$341.06
1985-01 · DCA start$3.17

Time underwater

How far below its previous all-time high the price sat, each month. 0% means a new high.

-70.3%-46.8%-23.4%0.0%
1985-012026-08 · -19.2%

Worst drawdown: −70%, peaking Nov 1999 and bottoming Feb 2003 — 89 months below the prior high before recovering.

DCA Backtest

Invested
$50,000
Value today
$679,052
Return
+1258.1%
Months invested
500

Scenarios

Inflation — the same contributions merely keeping pace with CPI would be $90,910 today, so the real (inflation-adjusted) return is +646.9%.

Lump sum instead — $50,000 all at once in Jan 1985: $4,343,633 (+8587.3%) — lump sum came out ahead.

Worst timing — same monthly amount started at the all-time high (Feb 2026): $666.06 on $700 invested (-4.8%).

⚠ Price returns only — dividends are not included. This understates the true return of dividend-paying shares, and any comparison against crypto (which pays no dividends) is biased against equities by roughly the dividend yield, compounded.

If this saved you a spreadsheet — buy me a coffee.

Every start month at once

Each cell is the return-to-date of £/$/€100-a-month DCA started that month. Click a cell to load it in the backtest above. The ringed cell is the all-time-high start — the worst timing scenario.

JFMAMJJASOND
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Legend:−50%−20%0%+50%+200%+1000%worst timing (ATH)Selected 1985-01: +1258.1%

About McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast-food restaurant chain. Founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California, the company has grown into one of the world's largest restaurant chains. At the end of 2025, the McDonald's system comprised 45,356 restaurants in more than 100 countries, approximately 95% of which were operated by franchisees. (Wikipedia)

It's a listed company categorised under consumer discretionary and restaurants, with a market cap of about $195.1B.

It rates Low Risk at 1.7/5, meaning the rated factors look benign — steady pricing, deep liquidity, and no obvious structural red flags.

What pushes the score up: market / volatility (2.7/5).

Scoring well: sector / regulatory at 1.0/5.

Not yet researched: concentration, governance. These are excluded from the score rather than guessed, so the real risk may be higher than what’s shown.

Ratings summarise sourced facts against fixed rules — not investment advice, and no substitute for your own diligence.

Risk Profile

Low Risk(1.7/5)80% rated

How these ratings work

Market / Volatility2.7/5 · weight 20%
  • Annualised volatility (3yr)2/515.6
  • Max drawdown from ATH4/570.3
  • Beta vs S&P 5002/50.64
Liquidity1.0/5 · weight 15%
  • Avg daily $ volume1/51.2bn
  • Float % of shares outstandingnot yet researched
Leverage / Financial2.0/5 · weight 20%
  • Debt / equitynot yet researched
  • Interest coverage (EBIT / interest)2/57.8
Earnings Quality1.0/5 · weight 15%
  • 3yr EPS volatility1/54.5
Concentrationunrated · weight 10%
  • Largest customer, % of revenuenot yet researched
  • Geographic revenue concentrationnot yet researched
Governanceunrated · weight 10%
  • Board independence %not yet researched
  • Share structurenot yet researched
  • Litigation / audit historynot yet researched
Sector / Regulatory1.0/5 · weight 10%
  • Sector regulatory exposure1/5low

Linked Assets

Same sector, or return-correlated — worth knowing what else might move if this one does.