now is the time to buy mcdonald s a defensive name to ride out slowing consumer spending according to atlantic equities analyst edward lewis upgraded the fastfood giant to overweight saying in a note to clients wednesday that the company is more than just a defensive valueplay and a leader in the global quickservice restaurant space as the global consumer softens companies who operate resilient business models and also have a wealth of experience at managing through such challenging periods come to the fore lewis wrote mcdonalds is such a name with a dominant position in the global qsr category which has remained resilient during periods of consumer softness and decades of experience at managing through such periods across what is now a stable of  40k units lewis cited mcdonalds drive toward digitization among his reasons for liking the stock and highlighted opportunities for the fastfood chain in its international division with a potential recession on the horizon he also anticipates mcdonalds will take share and improve margins as it did during the great recession thanks to its royalties and rent revenue streams along with the upgrade atlantic equities raised its price target on mcdonalds to 278 a share which implies a potential 14 upside from tuesdays close shares of mcdonalds have fallen more than 9 this year and are trading about 10 off their 52week high cnbcs michael bloom contributed reporting