El Pollo Loco Holdings Stock Price and Value Analysis

Should you buy El Pollo Loco Holdings stock? (NasdaqGS:LOCO). Let's see how it does in our automated value investing analysis system.

Advantages	Disadvantages	Neutral
None.	This stock looks overpriced. This company is less known than others. This company is not making money. This company has wild ups and downs.	This company pays no dividend.

Inside the LOCO Numbers

	LOCO Price (El Pollo Loco Holdings stock price per share)	$10.69
× PE Ratio Versus Sector The PE ratio measures the reported earnings of a company to its current stock price. While earnings are easy to manipulate on the balance sheet, this ratio gives you a sense of what buyers are willing to pay for the stock—what they believe it will do in the future. Comparing a stock's PE to the average PE of companies in its industry gives you a sense of market sentiment about the stock and how well it fares financially. It's not the only number, nor the most important, but comparing similar companies is valuable. A ratio far above or below that of its peers is significant. Industries are more specific than sectors, so companies within most industries are more similar than are companies within an industry. Be aware that the size and customers of companies are important to their prospects. Close ^[?]	PE Ratio versus Sector	12% higher than other Consumer Goods stocks
× PE Ratio Versus Industry The PE ratio measures the reported earnings of a company to its current stock price. While earnings are easy to manipulate on the balance sheet, this ratio gives you a sense of what buyers are willing to pay for the stock—what they believe it will do in the future. Comparing a stock's PE to the average PE of companies in its sector gives you a sense of market sentiment about the stock and how well it fares financially. It's not the only number, nor the most important, but comparing similar companies is valuable. A ratio far above or below that of its peers is significant. Be aware that sectors are very broad, with many types of companies in the same sector. Close ^[?]	PE Ratio versus Industry	26% lower than other Restaurants stocks
× Free Cash Flow Jitter The free cash flow jitter of a stock measures how much the company's free cash flow varies from its historical trend, on average. While it's always nice to make more money than you expected, a company with predictable free cash flow is stable and good. A company with wild swings in its free cash flow warrants further research. In general, the lower this number, the better. Close ^[?]	Free Cash Flow Jitter	605%

This stock has short interest! This means that people have shorted it.

Why does that matter? They've made a bet that price will decrease from where they bought it. Maybe there are financial problems, or maybe there's a value play.

As of the latest analysis, there are 1,371,821 shares shorted. With 19,607,632 shares available for purchase and an average trading volume over the past 10 trading days of 180,080, it would take at least 7.618 days for all of the short holders to cover their shorts.

Is El Pollo Loco Holdings Stock on Sale?

Based on our analysis, we believe that you should not buy El Pollo Loco Holdings right now. It might be a good stock to own—we just can't prove it with value analysis right now. Proceed with caution.

Should You Buy LOCO Stock?

Does El Pollo Loco Holdings have a coherent story? Does it have a plan to continue to make money? Is it worth your time? Only you can decide where to go from here. Our investment guide helps you ask the right questions, including how to buy stocks. Use these research links for more information.