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Forensic Analysis · Restaurants · as of Nov 9, 2026

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO)

A forensic read on El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
1.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
1
Forensic signals
9.6%
ROE
3.6%
Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.1, placing it in the Distress zone. 1 forensic signal was flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

5.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 5.7% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.1-point range. After-tax operating profit was $29M in FY2023 and $30M in FY2025, with operating income at 8.5% of revenue in FY2023, 8.7% in FY2024 and 8.6% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $512M in FY2023 to $518M in FY2025 (+1%), while the revenue it carried went from $469M to $490M.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$490.0M
Revenue Growth YoY+3.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+2.3%
Net Margin5.4%
Free Cash Flow$25.4M
Return on Equity9.6%
Debt / Equity0.18x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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