Wendy's (WEN) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

The Wendy’s Company operates and franchises quick-service restaurants under the Wendy’s name. Founded by Dave Thomas in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969, the chain is known for hamburgers made with fresh, never-frozen beef in the United States, along with chicken sandwiches, nuggets, fries, salads and its signature Frosty dessert.

Wendy’s restaurants also offer breakfast items and a range of beverages. The company serves customers in the United States and international markets through a mix of company-operated and franchised locations.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $8.16 to $8.34
• 50-Day Range: $6.10 to $8.34
• 52-Week Range: $5.94 to $9.45
• Volume: 5.16 million shs
• Average Volume: 7.93 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.58 billion
• P/E Ratio: 16.24
• Dividend Yield: 3.38%
• Price Target: $7.56
• Consensus Rating: Reduce

Wendy's Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Wendy's scored higher than 46% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 324th out of 479 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: 1.9 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Reduce

Consensus Rating

Wendy's has received a consensus rating of Reduce. The company's average rating score is 1.72, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 1 buy rating, 11 hold ratings, and 6 sell ratings.

Downside Risk

Wendy's has a consensus price target of $7.56, representing about 8.7% downside from its current price of $8.28.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Wendy's has been the subject of 10 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: -5.88%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Wendy's are expected to decrease by -5.88% in the coming year, from $0.51 to $0.48 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Wendy's is 16.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 26.40.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Wendy's is 16.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 26.62.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Wendy's has a PEG Ratio of 1.47. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Wendy's has a P/B Ratio of 12.74. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

31.17% of the float of Wendy's has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Wendy's has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 5.9.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Wendy's has recently decreased by 5.70%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Wendy's pays a meaningful dividend of 3.42%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Wendy's does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Wendy's is 54.90%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Wendy's will have a dividend payout ratio of 58.33% next year. This indicates that Wendy's will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.46

News Sentiment

Wendy's has a news sentiment score of 0.46. 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 news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 33 news articles for Wendy's this week, compared to 9 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 28 people have searched for WEN on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -45% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 7 people have added Wendy's to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -30% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Wendy's insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

17.10% of the stock of Wendy's is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

85.96% of the stock of Wendy's is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 9/15 Dividend: 9/01/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/15 Dividend: 9/01/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/15/2026
• Last Earnings: 11/05/2026
• Today: 11/15/2026
• Record date for 12/15 Dividend: 12/01/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 12/15 Dividend: 12/01/2026
• Dividend Payable: 12/15/2026
• 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:WEN
• CIK: 30697
• Web: www.wendys.com
• Phone: (614) 764-3100
• Fax: 678-514-5344
• Employees: 14,900
• Year Founded: 1969

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Wendy's: $7.56
• High Price Target: $12.00
• Low Price Target: $5.50
• Potential Upside/Downside: -8.7%
• Consensus Rating: Reduce
• Rating Score (0-4): 1.72
• Research Coverage: 18 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $0.51
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 16.24
• Forward P/E Ratio: 17.25
• P/E Growth: 1.47
• Net Income: $165.07 million
• Net Margins: 4.40%
• Pretax Margin: 6.42%
• Return on Equity: 93.77%
• Return on Assets: 2.28%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 27.00
• Current Ratio: 1.89
• Quick Ratio: 1.87

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $2.20 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.72
• Cash Flow: $1.82 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 4.54
• Book Value: $0.65 per share
• Price / Book: 12.74

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 191,243,000
• Free Float: 158,540,000
• Market Cap: $1.58 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.37