5 companies · median 17 of 36 checks · prices as of 2026-09-08
Restaurants stocks.
Sorted by how many checks each one passes. Sort by any column to see who is cheapest, who is growing, or who has the strongest balance sheet - and how that compares with what is normal for the industry.
Ranked by checks passed
5 of 201 covered companies→There is real spread here - McDonald's (MCD) leads on 19 of 36 checks, CAVA (CAVA) trails on 10, with a median of 17.
→MCD, SBUX, CMG are 88% of the $391.9B we cover here, so a sector average says more about them than about the rest.
 McDonald'sMCDFranchises most of its restaurants and earns rent and royalties from them.ReportFact sheet | +0.1% | -16.5% | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 19/36 |
 Yum! BrandsYUMFranchises KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut worldwide.ReportFact sheet | -0.8% | +4.9% | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 18/36 |
 ChipotleCMGRuns Chipotle, a fast-casual chain that owns rather than franchises its restaurants.ReportFact sheet | +0.0% | -10.0% | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 17/36 |
 StarbucksSBUXRuns and licenses coffee shops worldwide, and sells packaged coffee.ReportFact sheet | -2.4% | +22.5% | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 15/36 |
 CAVACAVARuns a fast-growing Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain.ReportFact sheet | -1.0% | -9.7% | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10/36 |
The filings behind this table close between 2026-06-28 and 2026-07-12, because these companies do not share a fiscal calendar; prices are the close of 2026-09-08. Each name links to its full report; every score is a count of pass-or-fail checks read from that company's own filings.
Where the sector falls short
median score per axis→Value is where the restaurant companies we cover come up short most often, at a median of 1 of 6, while Quality runs at 5.
| Value | ●○○○○○ | 1 of 6 |
| Growth | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Quality | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
| Health | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Shareholder returns | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Trend analysis | ●○○○○○ | 1 of 6 |
What a normal margin looks like here
sector percentiles · 41 filers→Operating margin clusters among restaurant companies, from 1% to 10% across the middle of the field, with a midpoint of 5% measured over 41 filers.
| Metric | Bottom third | Midpoint | Top third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin n=41 | 1.3% | 5.0% | 9.5% |
| Net margin n=43 | 0.3% | 1.9% | 8.0% |
| Return on equity n=29 | 2.3% | 8.5% | 18.7% |
Who grows, and who keeps it
every company in the industry→CMG, YUM, CAVA do both: growing faster than this industry's middle and keeping more of each sale than it does. The industry's middle is 4% growth on a 4% margin.
A year of price
not a fact about the business→2 of 5 are up over twelve months and the median move is -9.7% - Starbucks (SBUX) at +22.5% against McDonald's (MCD) at -16.5%. Price is not a fact about a business, and the Trend chapter of each report says what it is measured on.
Head to head
3 pairsThe table above gives the order. These put two of them in one column each, so you can see where the difference actually is.