McDonald’s downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird

Baird downgraded McDonald’s (MCD) to Neutral from Outperform with a price target of $290, down from $320. The firm is concerned that reports of an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s restaurants in multiple U.S. states could “pose a major threat to consumer sentiment” and the company’s U.S. comps, which is a key driver of investor sentiment. Baird also highlights risk to the near-term setup for McDonald’s in international segments given signs of an increasingly tough global macro backdrop. “With uncertainty now creeping in across all segments, we find difficulty calling for near-term upside for the shares,” the analyst tells investors in a research note.