McDonald's Shifts Blame From Consumers to Own Execution

McDonald's (MCD) stock has fallen 14.2% over the past year, and its recent quarterly call revealed a shift in how management explains weak traffic. Previously, the company pointed to external factors, but now it blames its own restaurants for the decline.

In its second-quarter 2025 call, McDonald's CEO mentioned that visits by low-income consumers had declined by double digits, citing core menu pricing as a key factor in customer value perception.

However, in the latest call for the second quarter of 2026, low-income consumers were not mentioned by name. Instead, management highlighted the company's own execution issues, including its failure to implement recommended prices for the new Every Day Affordable Price menu and the decision to drop digital offers and the Buy One, Add One deal.

According to McDonald's, these value execution problems accounted for about two-thirds of the traffic shortfall against its own expectations. The company's U.S. comparable sales grew only 0.8% in the quarter, and management acknowledged that giving up those deals for the new menu was a 'bad trade.'