El Pollo Loco (LOCO) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It operates and franchises restaurants located in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Louisiana. It also licenses its brand to restaurants 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.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $9.07 to $9.25
• 50-Day Range: $8.89 to $10.79
• 52-Week Range: $8.29 to $14.25
• Volume: 207,735 shs
• Average Volume: 247,628 shs
• Market Capitalization: $275.28 million
• P/E Ratio: 11.60
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $15.50
• Consensus Rating: Hold

El Pollo Loco Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

El Pollo Loco scored higher than 70% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 107th out of 211 stocks in the retail/wholesale sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

El Pollo Loco has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.33, and is based on 1 buy rating, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

El Pollo Loco has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 14.46%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for El Pollo Loco are expected to grow by 14.46% in the coming year, from $0.83 to $0.95 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of El Pollo Loco is 11.60, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 25.11.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of El Pollo Loco is 11.60, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Retail/Wholesale sector average P/E ratio of about 24.77.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

El Pollo Loco has a P/B Ratio of 1.20. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

5.38% of the float of El Pollo Loco has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

El Pollo Loco has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.8.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in El Pollo Loco has recently increased by 7.03%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: N/A

Dividend Yield

El Pollo Loco does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

El Pollo Loco does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 1.2 / 5
• Environmental Score: -4.38

Percentage of Shares Shorted

5.38% of the float of El Pollo Loco has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

El Pollo Loco has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.8.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in El Pollo Loco has recently increased by 7.03%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.47

News Sentiment

El Pollo Loco has a news sentiment score of 0.47. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.77 average news sentiment score of Retail/Wholesale companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 3 news articles for El Pollo Loco this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, El Pollo Loco insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 1.90% of the stock of El Pollo Loco is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

81.28% of the stock of El Pollo Loco is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

LOCO Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have LOCO shares performed this year?

El Pollo Loco's stock was trading at $11.54 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, LOCO stock has decreased by 20.6% and is now trading at $9.16.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were El Pollo Loco's earnings last quarter?

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOCO) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May, 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are El Pollo Loco's major shareholders?

El Pollo Loco's top institutional investors include LSV Asset Management (5.38%), Millennium Management LLC (2.26%), Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC (1.92%) and Nuveen LLC (1.82%). Insiders that own company stock include Laurance Roberts, Mark Buller, John M Roth and Samuel N Borgese.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of El Pollo Loco?

Shares of LOCO stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of El Pollo Loco own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that El Pollo Loco investors own include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA), Netflix (NFLX), NVIDIA (NVDA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Home Depot (HD).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 5/01/2025
• Today: 5/20/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/07/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Retail/Wholesale
• Industry: Eating places
• Sub-Industry: Restaurants, Hotels, Motels
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:LOCO
• CIK: 1606366
• Web: www.elpolloloco.com
• Phone: (714) 599-5000
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 4,630
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $15.50
• High Stock Price Target: $18.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $13.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +69.0%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.33
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $0.85
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 11.60
• Forward P/E Ratio: 11.05
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $25.55 million
• Net Margins: 5.11%
• Pretax Margin: 7.12%
• Return on Equity: 10.34%
• Return on Assets: 4.40%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.30
• Current Ratio: 0.31
• Quick Ratio: 0.29

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $476.03 million
• Price / Sales: 0.58
• Cash Flow: $0.90 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 10.19
• Book Value: $7.61 per share
• Price / Book: 1.20

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 30,052,000
• Free Float: 29,370,000
• Market Cap: $275.58 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.11