Fast food chain El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ: LOCO) will be reporting earnings tomorrow after market close. Here’s what you need to know.
El Pollo Loco beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $114.3 million, up 1.8% year on year. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EPS estimates.
Is El Pollo Loco a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting El Pollo Loco’s revenue to grow 2% year on year to $118.5 million, in line with the 1.4% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.19 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. El Pollo Loco has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.
Looking at El Pollo Loco’s peers in the restaurants segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Starbucks delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 2.3%, missing analysts’ expectations by 0.6%, and Domino's reported revenues up 2.5%, falling short of estimates by 1.2%. Domino's traded up 1.2% following the results.
Read our full analysis of Starbucks’s results here and Domino’s results here.
The outlook for 2025 remains clouded by potential trade policy changes and corporate tax discussions, which could impact business confidence and growth. While some of the restaurants stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 6.5% on average over the last month. El Pollo Loco is down 8.2% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $15 (compared to the current share price of $9.57).
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