The Whopper vs. The Big Mac

Good Morning DINKS. It’s time for another post in our Stock Market Showdown series.  Our Stock Market Showdown series discusses buying stocks based on personal preferences and a little bit of financial information.  If we don’t have time to research company information and performance history, we may buy stocks in our investment portfolio based on personal preference.

Take a moment and think about the last time you stopped to eat at a fast food restaurant.  Did you go to McDonald’s or did you go to Burger King? Now think about your investment portfolio.  Do you own that company’s stock in your investment portfolio?

Here are some Financial Facts about McDonald’s and Burger King:

McDonald’s has greatly expanded their menu over the last few years to include both healthier fast food options as well as a discounted value menu.  This allows McDonald’s to retain existing customers who are looking for healthier food choices, as well as maybe even expand their food to a new clientele, if that is even possible for McDonald’s.  In select restaurants McDonald’s also have a McCafe which offers specialty coffees and desserts.

McDonald’s restaurants were founded in 1955 and they currently operate in over 118 countries worldwide. More than 64 million people are served at McDonald’s each day.  Over 80% of all McDonald’s restaurants are franchised.    Coincidentally just as I was researching the stock performance information on McDonald’s restaurants I found an article posted on Yahoo Finance titled 12 Mc Donald’s Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly. It is also important to note that McDonald’s is the leading fast food chain in the world.

The Burger King Corporate homepage is set up very differently than the McDonald’s homepage.  The Burger King homepage lists all of the countries where Burger King is present.  Clients then have to click on their country of choice to enter their local website.  The Burger King motto is “Have it Your Way” and their local homepage is very product oriented.  The McDonald’s homepage was more geared towards the company and their brand recognition.

Burger King was founded in 1954 and the mascot is A King.  I don’t feel that the Burger King mascot King is as recognizable as Ronald McDonald, who is the McDonald’s clown mascot.  Burger King recently launched a deal with Quaker to serve Oatmeal for breakfast at Burger King restaurants. Burger King serves over 11 million clients per day in 78 different countries worldwide. Over 90% of all Burger King restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees.

I would personally buy McDonald’s stock over Burger King for the personal reason that I have always loved McDonald’s.  I feel that it is a better known worldwide brand, and therefore it has a better chance for corporate sustainability.  The only thing that I prefer about Burger King over McDonald’s is that Burger King has a veggie burger Whopper; this is an area that McDonald’s has yet to explore.  Sometimes I order a veggie Whopper from Burger King and I get Medium French Fries and Diet Coke from McDonald’s.

Which Stock would you buy Mc Donald’s or Burger King?

Photo by Pena2

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.