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Fast-casual Mediterranean chain serving customizable bowls and pitas, rapidly expanding across the US.
Fast-casual Mediterranean chain serving customizable bowls and pitas, rapidly expanding across the US.
Earns almost all its income from meals sold in restaurants it owns and runs, so sales follow new openings and how much each existing restaurant sells. It grew by buying Zoe's Kitchen in 2018 and converting those shops to the Cava format. Dips and spreads sold in supermarkets are a smaller, separate line.
Moat: narrow (brand). Differentiated Mediterranean positioning and fast growth, but the customizable-bowl format is easily replicated.
Headquarters: Rockville, Maryland, United States · Founded: 2006 · Employees: 13,480
Size CAVA (CAVA) is a United States Consumer Discretionary company (Restaurants) with a market value of $6.91B, the 967th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $59.15 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 25.5%, against +16.6% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 26.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +10.3%); the operating margin is 7.3% (peer median 9.6%).
Valuation It trades at 85.5× forward earnings against a peer median of 26.8× (most expensive of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 42% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +28%, so the hurdle is +14 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 6.2 points above its cost of capital (13.1% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 13.8% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 2 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.37B | $1.18B | $964M | $729M | $564M |
| Revenue growth | — | +22% | +32% | +29% | — |
| Gross profit | $256M | $217M | $181M | $133M | $55.3M |
| EBITDA | $183M | $153M | $121M | $78.9M | $27.9M |
| Net income | $66.3M | $63.7M | $130M | $13.3M | -$59.0M |
| Free cash flow | $149M | $26.1M | $52.9M | -$41.7M | -$99.3M |
| Capital expenditure | $70.6M | $159M | $108M | $139M | $104M |
| Total debt | $521M | $466M | $379M | $336M | $315M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAVA CAVA | $6.91B | -26% | +27% | 7% | 85.5× | 41.5% |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG | $43.6B | +6% | +8% | 15% | 27.1× | 15.1% |
| Sweetgreen SG | $1.43B | +72% | -1% | -18% | n/a | n/a |
| Shake Shack SHAK | $3.08B | +2% | +17% | 5% | 55.7× | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | CAVA | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +8.9% | +10.5% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -25.5% | +16.6% | 3rd lowest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -40.1% | -15.6% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +26.8% | +10.3% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 7.3% | 9.6% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 85.5× | 26.8× | most expensive of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 41.5% | 6.2% | most demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +27.9% | +13.3% | 2nd highest of 19 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +13.7 pp | -4.5 pp | most demanding of 19 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +6.2 pp | +6.4 pp | 10th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 35.4× | 14.3× | 2nd most expensive of 21 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.5× | 2.2× | 4th least indebted of 21 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAVA CAVA | United States | $6.91B | -26% | +27% | 7% | 85.5× | 41.5% | +27.9% |
| Haidilao 6862.HK | Hong Kong | $7.24B | -28% | +11% | 12% | 11.4× | 2.0% | +7.8% |
| McDonald's Holdings Company (Japan) 2702.T | Japan | $7.33B | +7% | +2% | 14% | 32.0× | 1.8% | +7.6% |
| Food & Life Companies 3563.T | Japan | $7.34B | +12% | +24% | 10% | 35.6× | 6.9% | +16.0% |
| Jersey Mike's Subs JMKE | United States | $6.03B | n/a | +11% | 21% | 26.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Dutch Bros BROS | United States | $5.90B | -36% | +30% | 10% | 31.0× | 36.3% | +38.0% |
| Brinker International EAT | United States | $8.58B | +49% | +6% | 11% | 14.7× | 9.3% | +11.7% |
| Cheesecake Factory CAKE | United States | $5.32B | +73% | +8% | 7% | 21.2× | 16.7% | +13.6% |
| Skylark 3197.T | Japan | $5.18B | +19% | +11% | 7% | 38.5× | 6.4% | +9.7% |
| Sodexo SW.PA | France | $9.91B | +28% | 0% | 3% | 17.7× | 6.0% | +6.6% |
| Wingstop WING | United States | $4.42B | +26% | +7% | 28% | 35.3× | 21.9% | +22.9% |
| Domino's DPZ | United States | $11.0B | +4% | +4% | 20% | 16.3× | 1.8% | +3.7% |
| Texas Roadhouse TXRH | United States | $12.1B | +4% | +10% | 8% | 26.8× | 13.8% | +19.6% |
| Zensho 7550.T | Japan | $12.2B | +41% | +12% | 7% | 34.3× | 6.1% | +16.3% |
| Aramark ARMK | United States | $13.9B | +17% | +11% | 4% | 19.8× | 16.1% | +7.6% |
| Jubilant Foodworks JUBLFOOD.NS | India | $3.20B | -5% | +16% | 10% | 61.4× | 28.6% | +23.5% |
| Shake Shack SHAK | United States | $3.08B | +2% | +17% | 5% | 55.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Yum China YUMC | United States | $17.1B | +6% | +10% | 13% | 15.3× | -7.5% | +7.4% |
| TORIDOLL 3397.T | Japan | $2.68B | +19% | +3% | 7% | 57.7× | 5.9% | +15.6% |
| Mitchells & Butlers MAB.L | United Kingdom | $2.56B | +25% | +3% | 12% | 10.2× | 4.7% | +12.9% |
| Saizeriya 7581.T | Japan | $2.52B | +60% | +17% | 5% | 26.9× | 4.6% | +19.0% |