PREVIEW: McDonald's shares flat ahead of quarterly result

** Shares of McDonald's MCD.N are up 0.86% to $317.25 ahead of earnings report due before the bell Thurs, with investors focused on sales in the U.S., which is the fast food giant's biggest market

** Last quarter, MCD posted the biggest drop in U.S. sales in nearly five year weighed down by an E.coli outbreak

** MCD is expected to report rev of $6 bln, down 1.24% a year ago, and adj EPS of $2.66, down 1.56% a year earlier

** MCD's rev and EPS have exceeded analyst expectations 5 times in the last 8 quarters

** MCD is up ~9% YTD vs the Dow Industrial Average .DJI, which is down 5.5% YTD