First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (FWRG) Stock

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (FWRG) is a Consumer Discretionary stock trading at $12.62 (as of 2026-08-20), with a market capitalization of $778.81M. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. operates and franchises restaurants under the First Watch trade name. As of March 23, 2022, it ran 341 company-owned locations and 94 franchised restaurants across 28 U.S. states, serving restaurant guests in those markets.

Understand First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc.: how it makes money

First Watch Restaurant Group operates and franchises First Watch restaurants, making money through company-owned restaurant sales and franchise arrangements.

Restaurant profitability is tightly linked to keeping food and beverage and labor costs under control relative to restaurant sales, while sustaining system-wide sales and new unit growth (the company reports food and beverage costs as a percentage of restaurant sales, labor and other expenses as a percentage of restaurant sales, and tracks same-restaurant traffic).

Business quality (Mixed): Good visibility into operating drivers (traffic, system-wide sales, and cost percentages), but segment detail is limited in the provided data (only franchise revenues are shown as a candidate).

Valuation: At 42× earnings, FWRG trades 54% above the Restaurants, Hotels & Motels average (27×). Note: one-time items can distort reported P/E.

Bull case

Scale and continued unit growth: The company reports 648 system-wide restaurants at period end and opened 16 new system-wide restaurants.
Cost tracking provides an operating focus: The company reports food and beverage costs (22.9% of restaurant sales) and labor and other related expenses (33.5% of restaurant sales), which helps monitor profitability pressure from inflation.
Kitchen and recovery indicators remain measurable: The company reports kitchen display system restaurants in use (114) and dining room recovery (93.3%).

Bear case

Demand softness risk: Same-Restaurant Traffic Decline is negative (-2.0%), which can pressure sales at existing restaurants.
Inflation pressure on core costs: Commodity Inflation (market basket costs) is elevated (11.2%), and Restaurant-Level Labor Inflation is 3.6%, both of which can raise costs versus sales.
High cost structure relative to sales: Labor and other related expenses are 33.5% of restaurant sales and food and beverage costs are 22.9% of restaurant sales, leaving less room for sales declines.

Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price	$12.62
Market Cap	$778.81M
EV / EBITDA	7.3
Price / Book	1.23
Price / Sales	0.58
FCF Yield	-1.3%
DCF Value (model)	$1.46
DCF Upside vs Price	-88.4%

Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)	$1.22B
Net Margin	1.6%
Revenue Growth (YoY)	20.3%
EPS Growth (YoY)	3.2%
FCF Growth (YoY)	152.5%

Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score	1.06 (distress)

Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Sector P/E (Consumer Discretionary)	20.5
Industry P/E (Restaurants, Hotels & Motels)	26.6

Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional Holder	VANGUARD GROUP INC ($50.08M)
Institutional Holders Tracked	10
Congressional Trades (recent)	5

Company
Sector	Consumer Discretionary
Industry	Restaurants, Hotels & Motels
CEO	Christopher A. Tomasso
Employees	15,000
Country	US
IPO Date	2021-10-01

Related Companies (Business model: Restaurant Operator / Franchisor; 8 closest by market cap; US-domiciled)

Data as of 2026-08-20.

Figures sourced from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR) filings and market data. Not personalized investment advice.