Arguably the most popular fast food chain in the world met expectations this previous quarter cashing in over $4.9 billion in income, a 2% increase from last years third quarter. McDonald’s has held some stability over the past few years and shows no signs of any significant decline from any expected numbers. Expectations had the company probably raking in $7.33 billion. this quarter and was just short reporting that amount by a hair, coming up with $7.32 billion. Keeping up with expectations is something McDonald’s  is probably going to do. They aren’t going to wow anyone with crazy numbers or shock the world with significant plummets but the company is expected to keep a nice steady pace for years to come and this quarter is no different.

Being such a large business globally, McDonald’s is disadvantaged by the fact that at the time being, the global economy is rather weak therefore causing everyday consumers to reduce their spending in things such as fast food. “For the quarter, our results reflect McDonald’s ability to grow amid the broad-based challenges of the current environment by focusing on those areas of the business within our control,” says CEO of McDonald’s Don Thompson. By the end of the quarter on September 30th, McDonald’s held a $97/share.

In September, McDonald’s launched a new product called Mighty Wings. Originally, as many advertisements depicted, they were meant to target football fans as the season began for them to consume during football games. However, the success of Mighty Wings never actually happened. There are many factors that contributed to its flop. For one, they did not look all that appealing. They weren’t even shaped like wings. As well as them being to spicy for most customers to handle, customers will not miss them much when they leave the menu by the end of November. Financially, the wings were a little too expensive for people to even consider buying topping out at $9.69 for a 10 piece box which compared to other wing spots such as Atomic Wings and Buffalo Wild Wings, were right on par but for them being fast food quality wings it was a little pricey. Not to mention, economically, people are struggling and won’t even consider buying them since most McDonald’s customers already have a variety of options on the menu for them to choose from. It is safe to say mighty wings was anything but mighty in helping McDonald’s this quarter.

One thing McDonald’s had been good at doing since it became the big name it is today is keeping its core products as great as they have always been. The old adage goes “why change what isn’t broken?” and McDonald’s is proof that keeping things the same does have its perks. However, this quarter McDonald’s decided to change it up a little and introduce three new sandwiches from one if its core products: The Quarter Pounder.  Introducing three different varieties of this classic burger, McDonald’s was hoping to make a splash and with these new sandwiches but didn’t accomplish much with this. The sales for these new sandwiches were low considering the expectations but not dramatic. Thompson is optimistic that these new sandwiches will help in the growth of McDonald’s in the future.

All in all, McDonald’s is keeping a steady hand and not close to any significant declines or shocking rises. McDonald’s is expected to keep relatively similar number for following quarters and years ahead.