El Pollo Loco Holdings (LOCO) reported $114.28 million in revenue for the quarter ended December 2024, representing a year-over-year increase of 1.8%. EPS of $0.20 for the same period compares to $0.16 a year ago.

The reported revenue represents a surprise of +1.00% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $113.15 million. With the consensus EPS estimate being $0.13, the EPS surprise was +53.85%.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how El Pollo Loco performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

• Revenue- Franchise advertising fee revenue: $7.43 million versus the three-analyst average estimate of $7.36 million. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +1.4%.
• Revenue- Franchise revenue: $11.23 million versus $11.17 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +2.5% change.
• Revenue- Company-operated restaurant revenue: $95.62 million compared to the $94.62 million average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of +1.8% year over year.

View all Key Company Metrics for El Pollo Loco here>>>

Shares of El Pollo Loco have returned -14.9% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's -3.5% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), indicating that it could outperform the broader market in the near term.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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