McDonald's (MCD): The Minecraft hangover & the sub-$3 margin trap [Q1 2026]

McDonald's Q1 2026 delivered a solid top-line beat, but a quiet profitability crisis is brewing as corporate-owned restaurants get crushed by the affordability war. In ~10 minutes:• Why U.S. corporate margins collapsed despite 3.9% comparable sales growth.• The massive "Minecraft" promo hangover causing negative April sales.• Passing the strict $3 value menu risk entirely onto franchisees.• Pivoting heavily to chicken to dodge historic beef price inflation.McDonald's 🍔 is aggressively protecting low-income traffic, but at a severe cost to the mothership. From the stalled Red Bull beverage launch to France abandoning its pricing discipline, we break down why the CEO is suddenly evaluating offloading corporate-owned stores to independent operators. McDonald's Corporation (MCD) | Q1 FY2026AI-assisted production. Feedback/ticker requests: https://x.com/EarnUnscripted.