McDonald’s Stock in Digital Markets
Nobody was surprised to find out that McDonald’s stock is performing this year, with increased investments in the digital space, it’s inevitable. These investments have included embracing a new level of technology in their restaurants, such as artificial intelligence or touch-screen order kiosks. This has extended to its mobile ordering application and delivery services. Many customers believe this gives McDonald’s a substantial advantage over their rivals, which is why the stock rose by 20% in the last fiscal year. Fast Food stock has grown drastically in the previous year, with other corporations like Wendy’s and Burger King having their stock rise by 10 to 15%. Collectively, each of these fast food markets has seen stock growth more substantial than the S&P 500.
The Price Target of Buy Ratings for McDonald’s Stocks will jump to a maximum of $240. BTIG Analyst Peter Saleh stated: “The unique technology investments the company is making will drive same-store sales higher and further differentiate McDonald’s from peers.” The estimates from Peter didn’t stop there, as he determines that store sales by Q4 in 2020 will show another substantial increase due to the official worldwide unveiling of McDonalds AI Tech.
Peter Saleh has determined that the dynamic yield being built by McDonald’s will increase consumer spending. This yield will encourage heightened drive-through orders, which is an unpopular trend outside of North America. Drive through ordering will be enhanced worldwide with voice-ordering artificial intelligence, which is being developed by Apprente Inc. McDonald’s purchased this development firm earlier in September and immediately had them start working on an automated ordering process. This would further cut labour costs for McDonald’s, while also increasing the speed that customers are severed. However, there are many customers worldwide that will oppose this unfriendly and unhuman interaction with their meals. Peter Saleh won’t be one of those individuals, as he believes this idea is beneficial for customers and McDonalds. He thinks this growth of technology could lead to loyalty programs and new benefits for customers.
Peter Stated: “Given the permanent nature of quick-service customers who often purchase the same items on most visits, we believe McDonald’s will eventually need to invest in a loyalty program. License-plate readers or other means to uniquely identifying their drive-thru customers will allow easier reordering. This will enable suggestive selling based on prior order history and speed up the drive-thru speed of service.”
Though McDonald’s hasn’t completed its artificial ordering technology, their experiments are rapidly increasing in restaurants across North America and Asia. The fast-food corporation is using their financial dominance to acquire new companies that will help remove specific hindrances about employee cost, store cost and product cost. The endgame is to make each restaurant cheaper by 40%, which is an important goal to accomplish to any fast-food chain.
Haydn Franklin
