Loading…
Employees: 4,034
Size El Pollo Loco (LOCO) is a United States Consumer Discretionary company (Restaurants) with a market value of $453M, the 2772nd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $14.88 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 6.3%, against +4.4% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 10th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 4.4% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.6%); the operating margin is 9.8% (peer median 4.4%).
Valuation It trades at 14.4× forward earnings against a peer median of 22.9× (6th cheapest of 14).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 3% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +3%, so the hurdle is +0 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 0.1 points below its cost of capital (7.6% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $800,000 at 30 Sep 2026 — 0.0 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Short interest Short interest is 6.0% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 11 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $501M | $490M | $473M | $469M | $470M |
| Revenue growth | — | +4% | +1% | 0% | — |
| Gross profit | $110M | $92.6M | $87.8M | $78.1M | $69.3M |
| EBITDA | $65.8M | $60.3M | $58.1M | $52.7M | $45.4M |
| Net income | $34.9M | $26.5M | $25.7M | $25.6M | $20.8M |
| Free cash flow | $41.0M | $25.4M | $27.7M | $19.4M | $18.6M |
| Capital expenditure | $32.9M | $22.6M | $19.1M | $21.3M | $19.9M |
| Total debt | $219M | $241M | $263M | $273M | $253M |
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.
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 | LOCO | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -0.4% | +7.4% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +6.3% | +4.4% | 10th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -14.5% | -12.9% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +4.4% | +2.6% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 9.8% | 4.4% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 14.4× | 22.9× | 6th cheapest of 14 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 3.2% | 5.7% | 6th least demanding of 17 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +2.8% | +9.9% | 2nd lowest of 17 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +0.4 pp | -5.6 pp | 5th most demanding of 17 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -0.1 pp | +0.6 pp | 9th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.0× | 11.2× | 8th cheapest of 16 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.1× | 1.4× | 9th most indebted of 18 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Pollo Loco LOCO | United States | $453M | +6% | +4% | 10% | 14.4× | 3.2% | +2.8% |
| Dine Brands Global DIN | United States | $454M | +26% | +8% | 14% | 7.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Sligro Food SLIGR.AS | Netherlands | $444M | -28% | -4% | 1% | 25.2× | 3.4% | +6.5% |
| Cafe de Coral 0341.HK | Hong Kong | $464M | +61% | -4% | 4% | 14.7× | -9.1% | +4.0% |
| Kisoji 8160.T | Japan | $438M | +6% | +2% | 5% | 32.9× | 4.4% | +11.9% |
| Tongqinglou Catering 605108.SS | China | $473M | -24% | +4% | 6% | 30.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Srs 8163.T | Japan | $474M | +53% | +10% | 4% | 43.0× | 9.6% | +11.8% |
| OOTOYA 2705.T | Japan | $477M | +53% | +18% | 6% | n/a | 10.0% | +18.1% |
| Feastogether 7883.TWO | Taiwan | $479M | -9% | +10% | 9% | n/a | -0.2% | +27.9% |
| Hyundai Green Food 453340.KS | South Korea | $482M | +22% | +7% | 5% | 6.2× | -18.0% | +6.6% |
| Kappa.create 7421.T | Japan | $489M | +3% | -1% | -1% | n/a | 29.8% | +2.4% |
| China Quanjude (Group) 002186.SZ | China | $416M | -15% | -4% | 0% | n/a | 16.4% | +9.9% |
| Sagami 9900.T | Japan | $494M | +13% | +10% | 7% | n/a | 7.7% | +14.1% |
| Marston's MARS.L | United Kingdom | $497M | +23% | -1% | 22% | 6.2× | -2.5% | +11.7% |
| Portillo's PTLO | United States | $504M | +54% | +3% | 6% | 31.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Ringer Hut 8200.T | Japan | $392M | +9% | +2% | 4% | n/a | 15.8% | +5.8% |
| Xi'an Catering 000721.SZ | China | $523M | -20% | -14% | -23% | n/a | 50.5% | +6.5% |
| AmRest EAT.WA | Poland | $529M | -5% | -3% | 4% | 22.9× | 5.1% | +9.9% |
| Koshidaka 2157.T | Japan | $530M | -6% | +16% | 13% | 10.8× | -9.8% | +31.1% |
| Black Rock Coffee Bar BRCB | United States | $538M | -6% | +24% | 3% | 50.1× | n/a | n/a |
| Elior ELIOR.PA | France | $544M | -35% | 0% | 2% | 12.4× | 6.3% | +9.2% |
El Pollo Loco reported $800,000 of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2026. That is 0.0 years of trailing revenue already under contract.