First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. (FWRG) vs El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO)

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. and El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. are both Restaurants companies. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $642.4M against $432.5M — 1.5× the size. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 11.9× against 33.8×. First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 19.3% against 4.40%. El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. has the higher net margin (6.96% vs 1.35%) and the higher return on invested capital (9.82% vs 1.95%). Across the 21 metrics below, El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. leads on 16 and First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. on 5.

Valuation

Metric FWRG LOCO Restaurants median
P/E 33.77 11.94 22.14
P/S 0.47 0.84 0.91
P/B 0.99 1.32 2.01
Price to free cash flow n/m 10.21 19.41
EV/EBITDA 7.98 6.31 11.48
EV/Sales 0.68 0.88 1.20
Earnings yield 2.96% 8.37% 2.30%
Free cash flow yield (3.50%) 9.79% 3.92%

Profitability

Metric FWRG LOCO Restaurants median
Gross margin 20.63% 32.23% 38.77%
Operating margin 2.14% 10.52% 4.30%
Net margin 1.35% 6.96% 1.85%
Free cash flow margin (1.66%) 8.19% 3.12%
Return on equity 2.88% 11.79% 3.07%
Return on assets 1.02% 5.74% 1.50%
Return on invested capital 1.95% 9.82% 3.14%

Growth

Metric FWRG LOCO Restaurants median
Revenue growth (TTM) 19.27% 4.40% 5.16%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 3.33% 4.65% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 28.99% 2.84% 10.57%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 1.59% 0.00%

Health

Metric FWRG LOCO Restaurants median
Debt to equity 0.46 0.10 0.10
Current ratio 0.27 0.41 0.81
Net debt to EBITDA 2.53 0.79 0.43

Dividend

Metric FWRG LOCO Restaurants median
Dividend yield — — 2.32%
Payout ratio 0.00 0.00 0.00

Size

Metric FWRG LOCO Restaurants median
Market cap 642.36m 432.45m 482.66m

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