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Held by 520 of 6,047 reporting institutions (97th percentile) — extremely crowded.
Data as of Q2 2026
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What the company returns to shareholders — and whether it's covered by cash.
No dividend to cover. Last year: $0 dividends + $0 buybacks = $0 returned on $26.1M FCF.
Yields use the latest fiscal-year dividends/buybacks over current market cap. Dividends and buybacks from the SEC cash-flow statement; payout coverage vs net income and free cash flow. Educational — not a recommendation.
How management deployed cash over 5 years — and what it earned on reinvestment.
A reinvestment story — most cash went back into growth rather than to shareholders.
Reinvestment has been productive — operating income grew well per dollar put in. Current ROIC on all capital: 8%. Rough measure (includes maintenance capex).
Cash uses aggregated from the SEC cash-flow statement over 5 fiscal years. "Return on reinvestment" is a rough proxy — operating-income change ÷ cumulative CapEx + M&A — and includes maintenance capex. Educational — not a recommendation.
EOD close · as of 2026-10-14
Is the profit real, and how strong is the balance sheet?
FY2025 · every deduction from revenue to net income
DuPont — the three levers
ROE 8% against ROIC 8% — 0% of the return on equity comes from leverage and buybacks rather than from the operating business.
What the company owes vs. what it holds
This shows debt/cash structure and net leverage. The year-by-year maturity schedule is on the Debt & Leverage tab.
Latest year: profit growth vs revenue growth
Low operating leverage — profit tracks sales closely (stable, less cyclical).
Each line as % of revenue — the trend in color
| % of revenue | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Profit | 16.4 | 17.4 | 24.7 | — | — |
| SG&A | 13.0 | 12.4 | 13.9 | 12.5 | 11.7 |
| Operating Income | -10.5 | -10.6 | 0.6 | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| Income Tax | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -7.3 | 0.6 |
| Net Income | -7.5 | -10.5 | 1.8 | 13.5 | 5.4 |
Green = margin-favorable vs the row's own range · red = unfavorable.
The metrics that matter, over time
A 30-second read on CAVA: price, valuation and headline fundamentals from SEC filings. The four questions at the top of the page are where the judgements live.
How much the company owes, how it's trended, and how comfortably it's serviced.
Insufficient EBITDA/debt history.
Green ≤ 1.5× · amber ≤ 3× · red > 3× (leverage relative to cash earnings).
Interest expense isn't separately reported — often netted into “other income (expense), net.”
Cash vs short-term debt unavailable.
Short-term / long-term split not separately reported.
Debt, cash, interest and equity from the SEC balance sheet & income statement. Effective rate = interest ÷ average debt. Educational — not a recommendation.
Solve the discounted cash flow backwards, then stress-test the assumptions.
Average free cash flow across the last 2 positive fiscal years (FY2024, FY2025). Smooths the cycle. Stock compensation is NOT charged — it is added back inside operating cash flow.
To be worth $51.59 today, the market must believe free cash flow compounds 38.9%/yr for a decade (off $39.5M on the 3-yr avg basis).
On the basis ($25.1M) the requirement is 45.8%/yr. Shares issued to employees are added back in operating cash flow, so this basis treats them as free.
The market's 38.9% is more optimistic than its 1-yr track record.
Default is 11.4% — this company's computed cost of capital (computed WACC), the same rate the Analysis tab discounts at.
2-stage DCF · 0.12B shares (market data) · net debt -$282.9M
Reverse DCF: rather than guessing a fair value, we solve for the growth the current price implies, then you stress-test the assumptions. Enterprise value of the FCF stream, less net debt, ÷ shares. Educational — not a recommendation.
Total return (dividends reinvested) vs the market, from quarter-end prices.
Above 0 = ahead of the S&P 500 since the window start; below 0 = behind. Rising means it's pulling ahead.
How far the stock fell below its prior peak. Deeper, longer drawdowns = a rougher ride to the same return.
Quarter-end, dividend-adjusted (total return). Beta & volatility from quarterly returns (annualized). Benchmark is the S&P 500 (SPY total return). Annual returns compound the quarters ending in each calendar year; the first and last years in a window may be partial. Past performance doesn't predict future results.
Total shares institutions bought (green) vs sold (red) each quarter across all holders.
Inferred from quarter-over-quarter change in each fund's 13F position (new stakes count as buys, exits as sells). Not tick-level trades.
EOD close · as of 2026-10-14
How a revenue dollar becomes profit — FY2025
Dividends and buybacks are cash paid out, shown here against the same year's profit for scale — not funded from it.
Each value shows its share of revenue below it (common-size).
| Line Item | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.18B 100.0% | $963.7M 100.0% | $728.7M 100.0% | $564.1M 100.0% | $500.1M 100.0% |
| Gross Profit | — | — | $180.3M 24.7% | $98.0M 17.4% | $82.2M 16.4% |
| Selling, General & Admin | $137.5M 11.7% | $120.5M 12.5% | $101.5M 13.9% | $70.0M 12.4% | $64.8M 13.0% |
| Total Operating Expenses | $1.12B 95.3% | $920.6M 95.5% | $724.0M 99.4% | $623.9M 110.6% | $552.8M 110.5% |
| Operating Income | $55.3M 4.7% | $43.1M 4.5% | $4.7M 0.6% | -$59.8M -10.6% | -$52.8M -10.5% |
| Other Income (Expense), net | $469K 0.0% | $318K 0.0% | $471K 0.1% | $919K 0.2% | $20.3M 4.1% |
| Pretax Income | $70.8M 6.0% | $59.9M 6.2% | $14.0M 1.9% | -$58.9M -10.4% | -$37.3M -7.5% |
| Income Tax Expense | $7.1M 0.6% | -$70.4M -7.3% | $768K 0.1% | $93K 0.0% | $117K 0.0% |
| Net Income | $63.7M 5.4% | $130.3M 13.5% | $13.3M 1.8% | -$59.0M -10.5% | -$37.4M -7.5% |
| Per Share | |||||
| EPS (Basic) | $0.55 | $1.14 | $0.22 | -$44.41 | -$51.06 |
| EPS (Diluted) | $0.54 | $1.10 | $0.21 | -$44.41 | -$51.06 |
| Weighted Avg Shares (Basic) | 115.8M | 114.3M | 60.5M | 1.3M | 732K |
| Weighted Avg Shares (Diluted) | 118.3M | 118.3M | 63.4M | 1.3M | 732K |
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (annual, fiscal year). Quarterly flow items are derived from cumulative filings; balance-sheet figures are as-of each period end. Ratios and margins are computed, not reported.
Ranked against 26 sector peers with collected financials. Valuation from latest close × latest fiscal-year fundamentals; 13F conviction as of 2026-06-30.
Percentile is “goodness” within the peer set (100 = best). For valuation and leverage that means cheaper / less-levered ranks higher.
| Company | Mkt cap ▼ | P/E | EV/EBITDA | P/S | Rev gr | Gross | Net | ROE | ROIC | Net D/EBITDA | 13F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCD | $166.9B | 19.7× | 16.1× | 6.2× | 3.7% | — | 31.9% | -478% | 22.0% | 3.1× | 3,384 |
| YUM | $40.1B | 26.5× | 14.2× | 4.9× | 8.8% | 69.8% | 19.0% | -21.3% | -21.4% | -0.2× | 1,398 |
| CMG | $38.5B | 26.6× | 16.6× | 3.2× | 5.4% | — | 12.9% | 54.3% | 54.3% | -0.1× | 1,161 |
| QSR | $24.9B | 30.3× | 15.8× | 2.6× | 12.2% | — | 11.4% | 29.6% | 6.4% | 5.5× | 563 |
| DRI | $23.3B | 19.8× | 11.8× | 1.8× | 9.4% | 20.3% | 9.1% | 54.7% | 26.6% | 1.0× | 1,046 |
| YUMC | $14.5B | 17.2× | 8.1× | 1.2× | 4.4% | — | 7.9% | 17.3% | 17.2% | -0.3× | 640 |
| ARMK | $14.4B | 44.9× | 15.1× | 0.8× | 6.4% | — | 1.8% | 10.4% | 3.8% | 3.8× | 522 |
| TXRH | $10.6B | 26.6× | 15.4× | 1.8× | 9.4% | — | 7.0% | 28.4% | 28.4% | -0.2× | 620 |
| EAT | $8.5B | 18.6× | 10.0× | 1.5× | 7.9% | — | 8.4% | 110% | 110% | -0.1× | 493 |
| CAVA | $6.2B | 98.1× | 45.8× | 5.3× | 22.4% | — | 5.4% | 8.2% | 8.2% | -2.2× | 520 |
| CAKE | $5.6B | 36.7× | 20.3× | 1.5× | 4.7% | — | 4.0% | 34.0% | 13.9% | 1.4× | 338 |
| WING | $3.4B | 20.3× | 21.7× | 4.9× | 11.4% | — | 25.0% | -23.7% | 36.9% | 5.0× | 407 |
| ARCO | $1.7B | 7.9× | 4.6× | 0.4× | 4.7% | 98.1% | 4.5% | 27.5% | 11.1% | 1.4× | 173 |
| CBRL | $1.4B | 29.7× | 10.2× | 0.4× | 0.4% | 69.0% | 1.3% | 10.0% | 4.9% | 2.5× | 271 |
| BJRI | $1.3B | 27.8× | 10.9× | 0.9× | 3.1% | 74.7% | 3.5% | 13.3% | 10.8% | 0.5× | 186 |
| BH | $1.2B | — | 20.4× | 3.1× | 9.2% | 59.2% | -9.5% | -7.2% | -4.9% | -0.4× | 115 |
| BLMN | $789M | 92.1× | 7.1× | 0.2× | 0.1% | 70.2% | 0.2% | 2.5% | 0.7% | 3.4× | 231 |
| FWRG | $743M | 38.8× | 10.7× | 0.6× | 20.3% | — | 1.6% | 3.1% | 2.1% | 2.8× | 202 |
| PZZA | $635M | 21.4× | 7.3× | 0.3× | -0.3% | — | 1.5% | -6.9% | 11.3% | 3.8× | 255 |
| LOCO | $481M | 17.6× | 9.1× | 1.0× | 3.6% | — | 5.4% | 9.1% | 7.7% | 0.8× | 145 |
| KRUS | $476M | — | 46.1× | 1.7× | 18.9% | — | -0.7% | -0.8% | -0.8% | -5.1× | 145 |
| NATH | $418M | 21.0× | 14.2× | 2.6× | 9.4% | 34.3% | 12.4% | -141% | 59.0% | 0.8× | 124 |
| DIN | $391M | 27.9× | — | 0.5× | 8.2% | 40.9% | 1.9% | -6.2% | 1.9% | — | 149 |
| PTLO | $331M | 16.9× | 9.1× | 0.5× | 3.0% | — | 2.6% | 4.1% | 2.4% | 4.5× | 173 |
| PC | $274M | — | — | 82.0× | -12.2% | 24.8% | -127% | -52.1% | -50.5% | — | 2 |
Peers = companies sharing CAVA's sector (Retail-Eating Places) with collected SEC financials. Multiples use the most recent end-of-day close and latest fiscal-year fundamentals (trailing, not forward). Missing cells mean the peer never reported that line item, has no collected price, or has a non-positive denominator. Not investment advice.
Earns -5.81pts against its cost of capital — capital is being consumed, not created.
| Fiscal year | Gross margin | Operating margin | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | 16.4% | -10.5% | -7.5% |
| FY2022 | 17.4% | -10.6% | -10.5% |
| FY2023 | 24.7% | 0.6% | 1.8% |
| FY2024 | not reported | 4.5% | 13.5% |
| FY2025 | not reported | 4.7% | 5.4% |
The spread was positive in only 0 of the last 3 years.
Top 40 institutional holders — bubble size is position value, color is the move since last quarter. Hover any holder for detail.
Drag any bubble to rearrange · size = dollar value of the position
Return on equity (8%) and return on invested capital (8%) are within a couple of points in FY2025, so the headline return is the operating return — there is no meaningful leverage effect to strip out.
$2M of goodwill — 0% of invested capital. The gap is what was paid above the fair value of what was bought; it is real capital shareholders provided, so neither bar is the whole answer.
| Period | ROIC | Cost of capital | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0.8% | 11.4% (today's — no rate published for this year) | -10.6pts |
| FY2024 | 5.9% | 11.4% (today's — no rate published for this year) | -5.5pts |
| FY2025 | 5.6% | 11.4% (today's — no rate published for this year) | -5.8pts |
| Now | 8.2% | 11.4% | -3.2pts |
Free cash flow has fallen short of reported profit in 3 of the last three years.
| Step | Amount | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| Net income | $64M | $64M |
| Share-based comp | $15M | $79M |
| Other non-cash & working capital | $106M | $185M |
| Operating cash flow | $185M | $185M |
| Capex | −$159M | $26M |
| Free cash flow | $26M | $26M |
| FCF after SBC | $11M | $11M |
| Fiscal year | Revenue growth | Receivables growth | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2022 | 12.8% | not reported | not reported |
| FY2023 | 29.2% | 29.5% | 0.4 points |
| FY2024 | 32.3% | 31.1% | -1.2 points |
| FY2025 | 22.4% | 31.8% | 9.4 points |
| Fiscal year | DSO | DIO | DPO | Cash conversion cycle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | not reported | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| FY2022 | 1.8 days | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| FY2023 | 1.8 days | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| FY2024 | 1.8 days | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| FY2025 | 2 days | not reported | not reported | not reported |
| Fiscal year | Accruals / assets |
|---|---|
| FY2021 | not reported |
| FY2022 | -11.1 percent |
| FY2023 | -8.5 percent |
| FY2024 | -2.6 percent |
| FY2025 | -8.9 percent |
Reported free cash flow is $26M; after share-based compensation it is $11M. The difference is a real cost that the cash flow statement adds back.
Debt is present but there is no positive EBITDA or no reported interest expense, so coverage cannot be measured.
Balance sheet at 2025-12-28. Undrawn revolving credit is not shown: the tag is collected but not yet mapped through to the API.
No material counter-signal in the checked set: net debt / EBITDA, interest coverage, stressed coverage, maturity schedule vs cash and one year of FCF, liquidity ratios.
Missing from our data, so excluded from this answer: interest_expense.
At $52.98, free cash flow must compound 40.44%/yr for 10 years. It has no positive compounding record to compare against.
The implied rate of 40.44% has not been achieved in any of the last 1 years.
SBC is added back inside operating cash flow, so reported free cash flow treats shares issued to employees as free. Percent of revenue says how expensive the payroll is; percent of operating cash flow says how much of the cash exists only because the charge was added back. The buyback offset is buybacks over SBC — below 1.0 the repurchase does not cover the shares issued.
Figures are the latest fiscal year (FY2025) from the company's own filings, not a trailing-twelve-month window — Q2 reads fiscal years throughout so the cash-conversion ratios and these share one basis. A blank is a line the filer did not report; it is never read as zero.