McDonald’s says it’s setting itself up for future growth by investing now in advances like voice recognition ordering technology. But for some investors, the short-term financial pain is hard to swallow.

McDonald’s net income dropped 2 percent to $1.6 billion in the third quarter as it rapidly remodeled stores and expanded delivery. Quarterly earnings at the Chicago company were flat at $2.11 per share. Wall Street was looking for per-share earnings of $2.21, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Third-quarter revenue was $5.4 billion, the company said Tuesday, just shy of Wall Street’s forecast of $5.49 billion.

The company’s shares fell 4 percent to $201.46 in mid-afternoon trading Tuesday.

Last month, McDonald’s acquired a Silicon Valley voice recognition startup called Apprente, with an eye toward using it to take orders at drive-thru windows. The company plans to build a Silicon Valley tech lab around that acquisition. Earlier this year it spent $300 million to buy Dynamic Yield, an Israeli startup that helps it provide customized recommendations at drive-thru windows based on things like weather, restaurant traffic and customer order patterns.

McDonald’s President and CEO Steve Easterbrook said 9,500 U.S. drive-thrus now have Dynamic Yield, as well as most drive-thrus in Australia. He said average check size grows when customers use it. McDonald’s digital in-store kiosks also increase check size.

Still, analysts on a conference call noted that McDonald’s U.S. restaurant traffic was down in the third quarter, an issue that has plagued the company for more than a year. They noted that some competitors, like Chipotle Mexican Grill, are seeing traffic growth without big tech investments.