McDonald's tops sales, profit expectations

While the restaurant industry remains in the dumps courtesy of an eroded economy, McDonald's Corp. keeps chugging along, and Friday posted better-than-expected sales and profit for the fourth quarter.

The Oak Brook-based company has managed to play up value offerings, such as its dollar menu, to recession-weary consumers, without resorting to the sort of widespread discounting that could hurt its bottom line.

For the quarter, the fast-food giant said it earned $1.22 billion, or $1.11 per share. That's 23 percent more than a year earlier, though the most-recent quarter included a one-time benefit of 8 cents per share.

Even without that one-time gain, McDonald's would have topped analysts' quarterly per-share profit estimates by a penny. Meanwhile, McDonald's revenue climbed 7 percent, to $5.97 billion, slightly above the $5.94 billion expected by analysts.

McDonald's financial release