LOCO

MKT CAP:$413M

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.

Market Cap

$413M

Consumer Cyclical·Restaurants·🇺🇸 United States·NASDAQ

Consumer Cyc.·Restaurants·🇺🇸·NASDAQ

Stock Price

$13.88+$3.56 (+34.50%)

Apr 23, 2026

Company Details

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, El Pollo Loco, Inc., develops, franchises, licenses, and operates quick-service restaurants under the El Pollo Loco name. As of May 04, 2022, the company operated 480 restaurants compris...

CEO

Elizabeth Goodwin Williams

IPO Date

Jul 25, 2014

Website

www.elpolloloco.com

Key Metrics TTM

Revenue

$490M

+3.6% YoY

Net Income

$26M

EPS (Diluted)

$0.90

Free Cash Flow

$25M

Revenue / Share

$16.61

Gross Margin

28.6%

Operating Margin

8.7%

Net Margin

5.4%

FCF Margin

5.2%

P/S

0.8x

P/E

15.6x

Earnings Reports

Q1 2026

May 7, 2026

PENDING

Q4 2025

Mar 13, 2026

$124M+8.1%EPS $0.22

Q3 2025

Oct 31, 2025

$122M+0.9%EPS $0.25

Q2 2025

Aug 1, 2025

$126M+3.0%EPS $0.24

Q1 2025

May 2, 2025

$119M+2.6%EPS $0.19

Revenue & Profitability

Quarter	Revenue	Gross Profit	Operating Income
Q1 22	$110M	$17M	$3M
Q2 22	$124M	$24M	$10M
Q3 22	$120M	$20M	$7M
Q4 22	$116M	$22M	$10M
Q1 23	$115M	$22M	$8M
Q2 23	$121M	$26M	$11M
Q3 23	$120M	$23M	$14M
Q4 23	$112M	$23M	$7M
Q1 24	$116M	$25M	$10M
Q2 24	$122M	$28M	$12M
Q3 24	$120M	$26M	$10M
Q4 24	$114M	$24M	$9M
Q1 25	$119M	$24M	$9M
Q2 25	$126M	$25M	$12M
Q3 25	$122M	$35M	$11M
Q4 25	$124M	$56M	$10M

Valuation

Quarter	P/S	P/E
Q1 22	0.9x	15.2x
Q2 22	0.9x	16.2x
Q3 22	0.9x	20.2x
Q4 22	0.9x	19.9x
Q1 23	0.9x	17.5x
Q2 23	0.9x	17.6x
Q3 23	0.9x	14.9x
Q4 23	0.9x	16.2x
Q1 24	0.9x	15.6x
Q2 24	0.9x	15.2x
Q3 24	0.9x	17.2x
Q4 24	0.9x	16.1x
Q1 25	0.9x	16.4x
Q2 25	0.9x	16.7x
Q3 25	0.9x	16.0x
Q4 25	0.8x	15.6x

Operating Cash Flow

Quarter	Operating CF	Free CF
Q1 22	-$2M	-$6M
Q2 22	$14M	$9M
Q3 22	$10M	$6M
Q4 22	$17M	$10M
Q1 23	$4M	-$2M
Q2 23	$18M	$15M
Q3 23	$11M	$5M
Q4 23	$8M	$2M
Q1 24	$11M	$7M
Q2 24	$17M	$10M
Q3 24	$13M	$9M
Q4 24	$6M	$1M
Q1 25	$5M	$1M
Q2 25	$14M	$9M
Q3 25	$15M	$10M
Q4 25	$14M	$5M

Capital Expenditures

Quarter	CapEx
Q1 22	$4M
Q2 22	$5M
Q3 22	$4M
Q4 22	$7M
Q1 23	$6M
Q2 23	$3M
Q3 23	$6M
Q4 23	$6M
Q1 24	$4M
Q2 24	$7M
Q3 24	$4M
Q4 24	$5M
Q1 25	$3M
Q2 25	$5M
Q3 25	$5M
Q4 25	$9M

CapEx

OpEx vs Revenue Growth (YoY)

Quarter	Revenue Growth	OpEx Growth
Q1 22	+2.2%	+4.9%
Q2 22	+1.7%	+4.0%
Q3 22	+3.6%	+11.4%
Q4 22	+6.4%	+5.8%
Q1 23	+4.1%	+0.0%
Q2 23	-2.1%	-2.7%
Q3 23	+0.4%	-5.6%
Q4 23	-3.2%	-1.5%
Q1 24	+1.4%	-0.3%
Q2 24	+0.6%	-0.7%
Q3 24	-0.0%	+3.3%
Q4 24	+1.8%	+0.4%
Q1 25	+2.6%	+3.5%
Q2 25	+3.0%	+3.6%
Q3 25	+0.9%	-0.2%
Q4 25	+8.1%	+7.9%

Stock-Based Compensation

Quarter	SBC ($)	% of Revenue
Q1 22	$826.0K	0.8%
Q2 22	$970.0K	0.8%
Q3 22	$1M	0.8%
Q4 22	$685.0K	0.6%
Q1 23	$771.0K	0.7%
Q2 23	$842.0K	0.7%
Q3 23	$926.0K	0.8%
Q4 23	$425.0K	0.4%
Q1 24	$920.0K	0.8%
Q2 24	$897.0K	0.7%
Q3 24	$1M	0.9%
Q4 24	$1M	0.9%
Q1 25	$1M	0.9%
Q2 25	$2M	1.4%
Q3 25	$1M	1.1%
Q4 25	$1M	1.0%

OpEx Breakdown

Quarter	G&A	S&M
Q1 22	$10M	—
Q2 22	$10M	—
Q3 22	$10M	—
Q4 22	$10M	—
Q1 23	$11M	—
Q2 23	$11M	—
Q3 23	$9M	—
Q4 23	$11M	$10M
Q1 24	$12M	—
Q2 24	$12M	$184.0K
Q3 24	$11M	$119.0K
Q4 24	$11M	—
Q1 25	$11M	—
Q2 25	$14M	—
Q3 25	$12M	—
Q4 25	$13M	—

Revenue Segments

Quarter	Franchise	Franchise Advertising Fee	Service	Gift Card Liability	Loyalty Reward Program
Q3 24	$11M	$8M	$101M	—	—
Q1 25	$13M	$8M	$98M	—	—
Q3 25	$13M	—	$101M	$205.0K	$2M

War Chest

Quarter	Cash	Short-term Investments	Total
Q1 22	$25M	$0	$25M
Q2 22	$34M	$0	$34M
Q3 22	$19M	$0	$19M
Q4 22	$20M	$0	$20M
Q1 23	$5M	$0	$5M
Q2 23	$10M	$0	$10M
Q3 23	$14M	$0	$14M
Q4 23	$7M	$0	$7M
Q1 24	$9M	$0	$9M
Q2 24	$10M	$0	$10M
Q3 24	$8M	$0	$8M
Q4 24	$2M	$0	$2M
Q1 25	$4M	$0	$4M
Q2 25	$9M	$0	$9M
Q3 25	$11M	$0	$11M
Q4 25	$6M	$0	$6M

Shares Outstanding

Quarter	Shares (Diluted)	QoQ Change	YoY Change
Q1 22	36M	+0.2%	+0.2%
Q2 22	36M	-0.0%	+0.2%
Q3 22	37M	+0.1%	-0.1%
Q4 22	37M	+0.4%	+0.7%
Q1 23	36M	-0.5%	-0.0%
Q2 23	36M	-2.6%	-2.6%
Q3 23	33M	-5.8%	-8.3%
Q4 23	32M	-4.4%	-12.6%
Q1 24	31M	-3.4%	-15.2%
Q2 24	30M	-1.8%	-14.5%
Q3 24	29M	-3.1%	-12.1%
Q4 24	29M	+0.1%	-8.0%
Q1 25	29M	-0.4%	-5.2%
Q2 25	29M	-0.2%	-3.6%
Q3 25	29M	+0.5%	-0.1%
Q4 25	30M	+0.3%	+0.2%

Shares Outstanding

Revenue Per Employee

Period	Revenue/Employee	Employees
Q1 22	$23.8K	5K
Q2 22	$26.8K	5K
Q3 22	$25.9K	5K
Q4 22	$23.5K	5K
Q1 23	$23.2K	5K
Q2 23	$24.6K	5K
Q3 23	$24.4K	5K
Q4 23	$25.7K	4K
Q1 24	$26.6K	4K
Q2 24	$28.0K	4K
Q3 24	$27.6K	4K
Q4 24	$27.6K	4K
Q1 25	$28.8K	4K
Q2 25	$30.4K	4K
Q3 25	$29.3K	4K
Q4 25	$30.6K	4K

Revenue / Employee