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

Company Overview

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. operates and franchises quick-service restaurants under the El Pollo Loco brand. The company specializes in Mexican-inspired meals centered on citrus-marinated, fire-grilled chicken, prepared using traditional cooking methods. Its menu includes chicken meals, burritos, tacos, quesadillas, salads, bowls, family meals and a variety of side dishes, beverages and desserts.

El Pollo Loco was founded in 1975 in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, and opened its first restaurant in the United States in 1980. The company has since developed a combination of company-operated and franchised restaurants, with its U.S. operations concentrated primarily in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Utah.

In addition to serving customers through its restaurants, El Pollo Loco offers takeout, delivery and digital ordering through its website and mobile channels. The brand is known for its focus on freshly prepared food, fire-grilled chicken and Mexican-style flavors, while its franchising activities support expansion in selected markets.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $15.48 to $15.77
• 50-Day Range: $14.09 to $16.99
• 52-Week Range: $8.98 to $17.40
• Volume: 211,113 shs
• Average Volume: 282,252 shs
• Market Capitalization: $478.97 million
• P/E Ratio: 13.45
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $17.30
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

El Pollo Loco Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

El Pollo Loco scored higher than 70% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 233rd out of 485 stocks in the consumer discretionary sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.9 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

El Pollo Loco has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.67, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 4 buy ratings, 4 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for El Pollo Loco is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

El Pollo Loco has only been the subject of 4 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 10.10%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for El Pollo Loco are expected to grow by 10.10% in the coming year, from $0.99 to $1.09 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of El Pollo Loco is 13.45, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.75.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of El Pollo Loco is 13.45, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 45.56.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

El Pollo Loco has a P/B Ratio of 1.62. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.24% 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 8.03.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in El Pollo Loco has recently decreased by 2.75%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

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.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.67

News Sentiment

El Pollo Loco has a news sentiment score of 0.67. 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 higher news sentiment than the 0.56 average news sentiment score of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 8 news articles for El Pollo Loco this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

32 people have searched for LOCO on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 52% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

1 people have added El Pollo Loco to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, El Pollo Loco insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $2,008,764.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

3.00% 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.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/06/2026
• Today: 10/14/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/29/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure
• Sub-Industry: Restaurants
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:LOCO
• CIK: 1606366
• Web: www.elpolloloco.com
• Phone: (714) 599-5000
• Fax: N/A
• Employees: 4,034
• Year Founded: 1980

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for El Pollo Loco: $17.30
• High Price Target: $22.00
• Low Price Target: $13.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +9.9%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.67
• Research Coverage: 9 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.17
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 13.45
• Forward P/E Ratio: 15.90
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $26.49 million
• Net Margins: 6.96%
• Pretax Margin: 9.81%
• Return on Equity: 10.87%
• Return on Assets: 5.32%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.10
• Current Ratio: 0.41
• Quick Ratio: 0.38

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $490.05 million
• Price / Sales: 0.98
• Cash Flow: $1.55 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 10.18
• Book Value: $9.72 per share
• Price / Book: 1.62

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 30,430,000
• Free Float: 29,520,000
• Market Cap: $478.97 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.77