Investors have good reasons to go shopping in the fast-food industry right now. This niche tends to perform well even as consumers become more price-conscious and pull back on overall spending. And companies like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) can still post strong earnings growth when the inevitable economic rebound occurs.

Both restaurant giants recently reported fresh earnings results that showed solid sales momentum even as inflation pinched many shoppers' budgets. Against that backdrop, let's see which stock is more attractive today.

McDonald's easily wins the growth matchup. The burger titan said in late January that comparable-store sales jumped 12% globally in the fourth-quarter selling period. That result represented an impressive acceleration from the prior quarter's 10% jump. It also roughly doubled Chipotle's Q4 growth rate of 6%, which marked a slowdown from the prior quarter.

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Source Fool.com