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El Pollo Loco (LOCO) Signs Agreement to Expand Its Footprint

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El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO - Free Report) is leaving no stone unturned to expand its presence. Recently, the company has signed a franchise agreement to develop eight restaurants in the Kansas City area as well as other parts of Kansas and Missouri in the next 10 years.

The company has signed an agreement with the new franchisee, EPL Missouri LLC. This move seems to be a step forward as the company is looking to aggressively expand its national footprint over the next several years.

El Pollo Loco CEO Larry Roberts said, “We are building on the momentum of our core business and firmly establishing the foundation for successful growth. We continue to see interest from both existing and new franchisees to bring El Pollo Loco to new markets and look forward to working with them as we look to expand across the U.S.”

In an effort to meet the demands of the company’s off-premise business, new restaurants will have El Pollo Loco’s new prototype design. Each restaurant will have nearly 2,400 square feet of real estate as well.

Zacks Investment Research
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Stock Performance

Shares of the company have improved 12.2% in the past three months compared with the industry’s gain of 3%. The company’s relentless focus on providing excellent service and reasonable pricing, and its advertising campaigns are expected to continue boosting revenues.

Banking on menu innovation, limited-time offers and a strong brand positioning, the company witnessed sales growth in the last reported quarter. The trend is expected to continue in the to-be-reported quarter as well.

Additionally, El Pollo Loco has made significant progress with various technology initiatives designed to provide convenience to loyalty customers.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Some better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Retail – Restaurants industry are Wingstop Inc. (WING - Free Report) , Chuy's Holdings, Inc. (CHUY - Free Report) and Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG - Free Report) .

Wingstop sports a Zacks Rank #1. WING has a long-term earnings growth rate of 11%. Shares of WING have declined 9.6% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Wingstop’s 2023 sales and EPS suggests growth of 18.1% and 16.4%, respectively, from the comparable year-ago period’s levels.

Chuy’s Holdings currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). CHUY has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 18.6% on average. Shares of CHUY have improved 5.4% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Chuy’s Holdings’ 2023 sales and EPS suggests growth of 8.6% and 11.7%, respectively, from the corresponding year-ago period’s levels.

Chipotle currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. CMG has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 4.1% on average. The stock has declined 14.9% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Chipotle’s 2022 sales and EPS suggests growth of 15.1% and 31%, respectively, from the corresponding year-ago period’s levels.

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