Présentation de l'entreprise
El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc., acting primarily through its subsidiary, develops, franchises, licenses, and operates quick-service restaurants under the El Pollo Loco brand name. The enterprise operates within the Consumer Cyclical sector, specifically the Restaurants industry, which positions the company as a retailer whose performance is directly correlated with discretionary consumer spending habits. The company's operational scale is defined by a market capitalization of $419.69M, an annual revenue of $490.05M, and a workforce comprising 4034 employees. These valuation and revenue figures indicate that El Pollo Loco maintains a moderate market presence, operating with a significant number of employees across seven specific states including California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana, which suggests a regional rather than national dominance in the quick-service dining landscape.
Santé financière
The company reported a trailing twelve-month revenue of $490.05M and a net income of $26.49M, while generating an EBITDA of $61.64M. The substantial gap between the $490.05M revenue and the $26.49M net income reveals a cost structure where operating expenses and taxes consume a significant portion of top-line growth, leaving a profit margin of only 5.4%. Free cash flow stands at $28.27M, indicating that the company generates sufficient liquidity after capital expenditures to fund operations or reduce debt without external financing. The gross margin is established at 22.2%, the operating margin at 8.7%, and the profit margin at 5.4%, reflecting a typical low-margin business model common in the restaurant industry where efficiency in supply chain and labor is critical. On the balance sheet, the company holds $6.23M in cash against total debt of $241.01M, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of 82.80, which characterizes a highly leveraged financial position rather than a conservative one. The current ratio is 0.32, a figure that signals tight short-term liquidity as current assets are insufficient to cover current liabilities without relying on debt restructuring or asset sales. Return on Equity is 9.6% and Return on Assets is 4.8%, metrics that demonstrate management's effectiveness in generating returns from shareholders' equity and the total asset base, respectively, though the ROA is modest given the high leverage.
Évaluation de la valorisation
The trailing twelve-month P/E ratio is 15.57, while the forward P/E is 12.69, implying that the market expects earnings growth that would justify a lower multiple in the future. The price-to-book ratio is 1.44, indicating that the stock trades at a premium of 44% over the company's book value, suggesting investors value the brand and future cash flows higher than the net asset value alone. Alternative valuation metrics include a price-to-sales ratio of 0.86 and an EV/EBITDA of 10.62, which suggest the company is valued at less than one dollar of revenue and offers an earnings multiple consistent with growth-oriented but high-leverage peers. The 52-week price range spans from a low of $8.29 to a high of $14.50, providing a historical context for volatility and trading bands. Without the current real-time price explicitly listed in the provided facts, the absolute percentage distance from the high or low cannot be calculated, but the range itself establishes the recent trading volatility within a span of approximately $6.21. The beta is 0.78, indicating that the stock's price volatility is roughly 22% lower than the broader market, suggesting a defensive characteristic relative to the overall market index.
Growth & Income
Revenue growth year-over-year is 8.1% and earnings growth year-over-year is also 8.1%, indicating that the company is expanding its top line at a pace that is perfectly aligned with its profitability, meaning earnings are not growing faster or slower than revenue but in exact proportion. As a non-dividend payer, the company does not distribute cash to shareholders, evidenced by a dividend yield of N/A and a payout ratio of 0.0%, which implies that the company reinvests all net income of $26.49M into business expansion, debt reduction, or operational improvements rather than paying dividends. The absence of a dividend policy suggests a growth-focused strategy where management prioritizes internal capital allocation over income generation for investors. Overall, the growth and income profile is defined by double-digit revenue expansion coupled with zero dividend payouts and a highly leveraged balance sheet that constrains the ability to increase shareholder returns via dividends.