El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO) Stock

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO) is a Consumer Discretionary stock trading at $15.96 (as of 2026-07-24), with a market capitalization of $486.07M and a trailing P/E of 16.7. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

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 comprising 189 company-operated and 291 franchised restaurants located in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana. It also licenses one restaurant in the Philippines. The company was formerly known as Chicken Acquisition Corp. and changed its name to El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. in April 2014. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California.

Understand El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.: how it makes money

El Pollo Loco operates, franchises, and licenses quick-service restaurants under the El Pollo Loco name, making money mainly from revenue at company-operated restaurants and from franchise revenue tied to franchised locations (including advertising fee revenue).

The profit engine depends on how well company-operated restaurants perform on comparable sales, while franchise economics add an additional revenue stream from franchised restaurants (including advertising fee revenue), making demand trends across the system and the company-franchise mix key drivers.

Revenue by segment (latest quarter)
Company-Op$0.1B
Franchise$0.0B

Business quality (Mixed): Useful operating KPIs and a basic company-operated versus franchise revenue split are provided, but there is no detailed, official segment disclosure here beyond the revenue candidates, and the latest period context is limited to the KPI snapshot.

Valuation: At 16× earnings, LOCO trades 40% below the Restaurants, Hotels & Motels average (27×). Note: one-time items can distort reported P/E.

Bull case

  • Loyalty engagement appears to be growing: Loco Rewards Members Added increased by 330000, and Loyalty Participation Rate is 21.0 percent.
  • Some demand indicators are positive: System-Wide Comparable Store Sales is 3.2 percent, and Franchise-Comparable Restaurant Sales is 1.1 percent.

Bear case

  • Comparable restaurant sales look mixed to weak: System-Wide Comparable Restaurant Sales is -0.8 percent, and System-Wide Comparable Restaurant Sales Decrease is -3.4 percent.
  • Company-operated and franchise comparable trends are pressured: Company-Operated Comparable Restaurant Sales Decrease is -2.3 percent, and Franchise-Comparable Restaurant Sales Decline is -4.1 percent.
  • Transactions are not improving consistently: Transaction Decline (Company-Operated Comparable Restaurants) is 0.3 percent, and System-Wide Comparable Restaurant Sales Decrease and Franchise-Comparable Restaurant Sales Decline point to weaker unit demand.
Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price$15.96
Market Cap$486.07M
P/E Ratio16.7
EV / EBITDA8.5
Price / Book1.61
Price / Sales0.98
FCF Yield5.5%
DCF Value (model)$11.64
DCF Upside vs Price-27.1%
Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)$490.05M
Net Margin5.4%
Revenue Growth (YoY)5.9%
EPS Growth (YoY)47.4%
FCF Growth (YoY)105.1%
Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score1.94 (grey)
Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Stock P/E16.7
Sector P/E (Consumer Discretionary)21.6
Industry P/E (Restaurants, Hotels & Motels)26.0
vs Sector-22.7%
vs Industry-35.8%
Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional HolderBIGLARI CAPITAL CORP. ($55.44M)
Institutional Holders Tracked10
Company
SectorConsumer Discretionary
IndustryRestaurants, Hotels & Motels
CEOElizabeth Goodwin Williams
Employees4,000
CountryUS
IPO Date2014-07-25

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LOCO earnings history · LOCO institutional & insider holders · LOCO KPIs & operating metrics · Congress trades · Insider trades · Short interest · Stock screener

Data as of 2026-07-24.

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