After McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) lengthy winning streak, today's second-quarter earnings release might make many investors choke on their Big Macs.

Net income fell 8% to $1.09 billion, or $0.98 per share. The quarterly profit took a $0.09-per-share hit from foreign-currency translation, but also included a $0.01-per-share gain, partially thanks to McDonald's sales of its remaining stake in Redbox to Coinstar (Nasdaq: CSTR).

Revenue dropped 7%, to $5.65 billion -- without currency effects, it would have risen by 4% -- while same-store sales increased 4.8% globally. Europe posted the most robust results, with a 6.9% increase in comps, while the Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and African segment expanded 4.4%. The U.S. market lagged them both with a mere 3.5% gain. The strong comps are positive news, even though they didn't translate into solid dollar-denominated results. Similar negative currency effects have plagued global players such as Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO).

Obviously, this wasn't a very exciting quarter for McDonald's. Then again, the latest quarterly results from Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) haven't been a thrill a minute, either. It's tough out there, even if companies have been able to meet or beat analysts' (reduced) expectations.

We may have been spoiled by last quarter's results, in which McDonald's seemed to simply and utterly defy the recession. Despite these relatively ho-hum earnings, don't forget that the Golden Arches' most recent same-store sales still far outshone those delivered by either Yum! Brands or Starbucks.

I'm still thumbs-up on McDonald's, even if today's tidings seem to be giving many fair-weather investors a case of indigestion. Mickey D's has been doing very well in the tough economy, and it has proven it can excel in good times as well. Even though its price-to-earnings ratio of 16.8 is only slightly more than that of Yum! Brands, and much higher than Burger King 's (NYSE: BKC) ratio of 12, I'd still say McDonald's drop in price today probably represents a tasty opportunity for long-term investors hungry for a venerated low-price leader in the consumer landscape.