Fast-food chain McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow before the bell. Here's what investors should know.

McDonald's met analysts' revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $6.41 billion, up 8.1% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company: Revenue unfortunately missed analysts' expectations, driven by a same-store sales miss. With better gross margins, through, EPS beat.

Is McDonald's a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting McDonald's revenue to grow 4.6% year on year to $6.17 billion, in line with the 4.1% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.73 per share.

The analysts covering the company have had mixed opinions about the business heading into the earnings, with revenue estimates seeing three upward and nine downward revisions over the last thirty days.McDonald's has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates twice over the last two years.

Looking at McDonald's peers in the restaurants segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Darden delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 6.8%, missing analyst expectations by 1.7%, and Kura Sushi reported revenues up 30.4%, topping Wall Street's consensus estimates by 1.1%. Darden traded down 5.5% following the results while Kura Sushi was up 5.7%.

Read our full analysis of Darden's results here and Kura Sushi's results here.

Inflation progressed towards the Fed's 2% goal at the end of 2023, leading to strong stock market performance. The start of 2024 has been a bumpier ride, as the market switches between optimism and pessimism around rate cuts due to mixed inflation data, and while some of the restaurants stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share price declining 4.9% over the last month. McDonald's is down 2.4% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $320.7 (compared to share price of $273.45).

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