McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), says its sales rose in the first quarter, including in the flagship U.S. market where it has been promoting different sizes of Big Macs and drink deals noting that its U.S. business "continues to focus its efforts on driving guest count growth."

By BNN.ca

MCD, the world's largest burger chain, says Q1:

• global sales rose 4% at established locations,
• in the U.S., the figure rose 1.7% as the company pushes to revive its business by improving the image of its food. The push includes plans to use fresh instead of frozen beef for its Quarter Pounders starting sometime next year.
• earnings of $1.47 per share on $5.68 billion in revenue [exceeding the average analyst consensus of $1.33 per share on $5.53 billion in revenue.
• Total revenue was $5.68 billion, also beating the $5.48 billion analysts expected.

The Oak Brook, Illinois company did not immediately say whether the higher sales in the U.S. reflected higher customer visits, higher average spending per visit, or a mix of both. McDonald's has said it would work on increasing customer visits, after suffering four straight years of declines in the metric but it noted that its U.S. business "continues to focus its efforts on driving guest count growth."

McDonald's shares have risen 10% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 6%. The stock has climbed 7% in the last 12 months [and was up almost 4% on the open Tuesday morning].