NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) May 3, 2004--Standard&Poor's Rating Services today revised its ratings outlook on McDonald's Corp. to stable from negative. Ratings on the company, including the 'A' long-term corporate credit rating and 'A-1' short-term corporate credit rating, were affirmed. "The outlook change reflects the very substantial progress that management has made in turning around the business," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Gerald Hirschberg. "For the past 12 months, McDonald's has been implementing a strategy broadly aimed at operational improvements, better marketing, and a somewhat more conservative financial policy. Since that time, the company has experienced impressive growth in domestic same-store sales, and its earnings and financial measures are all significantly better. Although comparisons for the
