Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Sep 24, 2026
McDonalds Corp (MCD)
A forensic read on McDonalds Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
8.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
20.0
P / E (ttm)
$168.6B
Market cap
2.36%
Dividend yield
3.7%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
McDonalds Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 8.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+12.8%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +12.8% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by PP&E up +12% against revenue +4% and inventory up +9% against +4% in revenue. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 6% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 12.8%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.
100% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $7.2B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 100% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. Counting the $165M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 102%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$26.89B
Revenue Growth YoY+3.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+2.7%
Net Margin31.9%
Free Cash Flow$7.19B
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from McDonalds Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?