In recent weeks, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has shown once again that it is in serious transition mode from a satisfied market leader to a hungry competitor. And now, Nomura is showing MCD stock some respect.

The first jolt to MCD came when McDonald’s announced that its popular breakfasts would be served all day. Then there was the talk about creating a fresher and healthier menu. The company also announced initiatives to get its eggs from less intensive producers that provide a better environment for the animals.

All welcome changes, and all reflected in McDonald’s stock. Shares are up 23% since announcing all-day breakfast, though they’re mostly flat in what has been a challenging year for restaurant stocks as a whole.

But if you look out longer, you can see the real value in MCD stock is its long-term performance. So does Nomura, which just upgraded shares from “neutral” to “buy,” in large part because the Golden Arches are innovating again.

MCD Stock Needs (And Is Getting) New Ideas

MCD is returning close to 10% a year for the past decade. That is a very respectable return, and its moves in recent quarters shows that it is committed to keeping that growth trend growing.

And don’t forget: McDonald’s is no slouch on the dividend side. It is a Dividend Aristocrat, raising its dividend every year for the past 40 years. That’s a very impressive record that is matched by only a handful of companies.

The dividend yield on McDonald’s stock currently sits at 3.1%, which is still beating inflation by a good stretch.

To keep this growth trend going, MCD recently announced some new ideas to further reinforce its ambition to be a healthier fast food restaurant.

In Oklahoma, McDonald’s expanded a pilot program to use fresh, never-frozen beef for its Quarter Pounders. Because MCD has more than 14,000 restaurants in the U.S. alone, this kind of change is significant to supply chains and warehousing and franchisees, so it is scaling up the fresh beef alternative methodically.

If it works well, McDonald’s would have to see increased value from the offering that would offset any additional costs of expanding this program. Remember, Wendy’s Co (NASDAQ:WEN) has sold fresh burgers for its entire existence, so it’s possible but the scale is significantly different.

Granted, MCD stock is sitting at almost $100 billion in market cap vs. Wendy’s mere $3 billion. But eating into any competitor’s market share is better than stagnation.

Remember: When WEN was growing, CEO and founder Dave Thomas’ expansion strategy was simple: open restaurants as close to a McDonald’s as possible. He let MCD do his market research for him. Now, however, it looks like McDonald’s can turn that advantage into a liability if it more closely competes with Wendy’s on the burger front.

MCD has also announced a new sriracha Big Mac. Instead of the legendary “secret sauce,” MCD has launched a pilot program at 124 Ohio restaurants offering sriracha instead.

This isn’t a game-changer but it shows MCD is once again committed to staying on top of market trends and getting new products into the pipeline faster.

Richard Band’s Profitable Investing advisory service helps retirement savers outperform the market without losing a minute of sleep along the way. His straightforward style and low-risk value approach has won seven Best Financial Advisory awards from the Newsletter and Electronic Publishers Foundation.