(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected profit, luring U.S. diners with its new Buttermilk Crispy Tenders and cheap value offerings, and saw strong sales in the UK and Canada.
The company's shares, however, fell as much as 1 percent in premarket trading as same-store sales in the United States, the company's biggest market, failed to beat lofty Wall Street expectations.
"While McDonald's U.S. business likely outperformed many of its quick-service counterparts during Q4 in terms of same-store sales growth, perhaps consensus expectations for this key business segment may have gotten a touch too high in the near term," Instinet analyst Mark Kalinowski said in a note last week.
Domestic same-store sales rose 4.5 percent rise, its fourth-straight quarterly gain, but were in line with analysts' estimates. Sales in the region were boosted by higher demand for its McPick 2 $5 combo offer and cheap beverages.
McDonald's global sales at stores open at least 13 months rose a healthy 5.5 percent, as it served more customers in regions including Canada, UK and China.
That topped the 5 percent analysts had expected, according to Consensus Metrix.
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Net income fell to $698.7 million or 87 cents per share, from $1.19 billion or $1.44 per share, a year earlier, mainly due to a $700 million net charge related to recent changes in U.S. tax law.
Excluding items, the company earned $1.71 per share beating the average analyst estimate of $1.59, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue fell 11.4 percent to $5.3 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, as it stepped up sales of restaurants to franchisees and strategic partners, the company said.
McDonald's shares were down 0.8 percent at $176.34 premarket. The stock rose 45 percent in the 12 months to Monday's close.
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Bernard Orr and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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