Sterne Agee Reiterates Buy on McDonald's (MCD)

Sterne Agee is out with its report today on McDonald's MCD, reiterating Buy. In a note to clients, Sterne Agee writes, "We believe that MCD's U.S. reimage program will take the chain to the next level and will further expand the gap between MCD and most other quick service competitors. The new look is modern, sophisticated and appeals to a young target audience but yet should not alienate MCD's family customer base, in our view. The reimage program is in the earliest stages of roll-out with <20% completed in the U.S. Looking out over the next several years, we believe that the program will be an instrumental catalyst in driving comps given a sales lift of 6%-7% for remodeled units and 10%-12% for rebuilds. After this trip, we have greater confidence that MCD will continue to produce QSR industry leading comps and gain market share. Accordingly, we are reiterating our BUY rating and $87 price target." At the time of posting, shares of MCD were trading pre-market at $80.35, down 0.38% from Thursday's close.