This Stock is a Dividend Play for a Lifetime

A year ago, I highlighted McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) as the dividend play for a lifetime. Since then, the stock has climbed 29% (dividend-adjusted) -- vastly outperforming the S&P, by more than 25%. And the company boosted its payout by 11% in September last year. So with all that, is McDonald's still a buy? In a word, yes!

Much remains the same about McDonald's from last year. It's still growing its massive chain of stores, still has its hidden assets, and still is cranking out great same-store sales, even in the midst of a dour economy. McDonald's still has massive growth opportunities in front of it. The biggest, of course, is China. The company plans to bump up store count some 50% by 2013, to 2,000 outlets. Just 2,000 stores in a country of 1.3 billion? That's just one store for every 650,000 citizens. Compare that to the U.S., where the company supports a store with every 22,000 people. There's still a huge runway for growth in the Middle Kingdom.

Source: Motley Fool

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