Is it safe?
Can MCD take a bad year?
McDonald's carries $38.9B of net debt at 2.61× EBITDA: a load its earnings can carry.
$38.9B
Net debt · as at Q1 2026 · between two and four years of EBITDA, normal for a stable business
- Net debt / EBITDA
- 2.61×
Net debt / EBITDA · 2.75× a year ago · the load is coming down
- Interest cover
- 7.91×
Interest cover · operating profit covers the interest bill several times over
- Annualised volatility
- 18%
Annualised volatility · about as steady as the market itself
Details›
- Total debtQ1 2026
- $40.1B
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.17B
- Net debt
- $38.9B
- EBITDA, trailing twelve months
- $14.9B
- Operating profit, trailing twelve months
- $12.7B
- Total debt / EBITDA
- 2.68×
- Annualised volatilitytwo years of daily moves
- 18%
- Worst drawdown on file
- −37%
- Below its 52-week high
- −21%
Balance sheet from SEC filings; drawdown and volatility from end-of-day closes; Altman Z from the filed statements.