Could Starbucks Unseat McDonald's As Restaurant King?

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Could Starbucks become the restaurant king, surpassing McDonald's? One expert believes it will happen.

Analyst Mark Kalinowski of Nomura is predicting that Starbucks will be the most valuable restaurant company, according to Bloomberg. He named the company his best restaurant stock for 2017 and expects Starbucks to increase its number of locations worldwide by 8.4 percent in 2017.

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Kalinowski cites the competitive landscape as a key for Starbucks to pass McDonald's explaining that Starbucks faces less competition in the beverage industry than McDonald's does in fast food.

While Kalinowski believes it will happen eventually, he doesn't see Starbucks taking the top spot right away. "It is only a matter of time before Starbucks overtakes McDonald's as the largest market cap restaurant stock, although likely not in 2017."