Los Arcos Dorados

Said a friendly investment advisor,
As to where the best stock market buys are:
"Just look to Brazil,
Where, intriguingly, still
The best markets for burgers and fries are."

Investment advisor Josh Brown, whose nom de blog is The Reformed Broker, was among the stock pickers helping Investor Place to select the Ten Best Stocks for 2012. The reformed broker's pick? Arcos Dorados (NYSE: ARCO), the world's largest McDonald’s franchisee, with more than 1,750 locations, largely in Latin America Mr. Brown shines a light on the southern hemisphere's expanding consumer spending, particularly in Brazil (50% of $ARCO revenues), where a thriving middle class of 100 million people gives the company "incredible room for growth." Well done, Mr. Brown, but we can only hope that Brazilians' waistbands are equally expandable.

More Dollars to Gold(en Arches)

Said McDonald's competitors recently:
"While the rest of us lag, they do decently;
We must capture, like they,
An original way
Of promoting the spread of obesity."

In times of dollar distress, investors take to gold. The same holds true for the golden arches of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) which, practically alone in the fast food industry, continues to grow same-store sales at a healthy (if that's the word for it) pace. Perhaps, as Kelly Evans writes in the Wall Street Journal's Ahead of the Tape column, it's due to the traffic drawn to those fruity smoothies and sweet iced coffee drinks. Or maybe those golden fries really are a store of (caloric) value.

Not Lovin' the Recovery

At McDonald's they have a confession:
"We'd prefer to go back to recession.
We sell more dollar menus
At each of our venues
When folks are afraid of depression."

Thanks to Kelly Evans for analyzing fast food's elasticity of demand - "Ahead of the Tape."