CAVA

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) primarily generates revenue by offering global online reservation services for accommodations, vehicle rentals, flights, vacation packages, and restaurant dining across multiple digital brands aimed at both individual consumers and travel service providers. While navigating an expanded collective lawsuit from European hospitality associations and updating an organizational restructuring program targeting expense savings, it reported an operating margin of approximately 34% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. CAVA (NYSE:CAVA) primarily generates revenue by operating a chain of Mediterranean dining establishments and distributing its branded savory dips, spreads, and signature dressings through various grocery retailers and online food ordering services. It appointed a new director to its board. It launched an internal career development platform to support future hiring initiatives and reported a free cash flow margin of about 8% for the quarter ended July 12, 2026. Revenue here refers to the standardized income statement revenue line item, and this foundational financial metric matters because it helps investors clearly understand the total amount of money entering the business before accounting for any operating expenses, taxes, or internal administrative costs. Data source: Company filings. Data as of Aug. 17, 2026. Booking is the larger, more established business operating in the massive travel industry. But CAVA's higher revenue growth rate indicates it is a promising emerging restaurant brand worth considering for long-term investors. Both companies experience mild fluctuations in quarterly revenue, but year over year, they consistently grow revenue. A better way for investors to measure their performance is to use trailing 12-month figures. On a TTM basis, both companies experience smoother growth curves. Booking reported TTM revenue of $28 billion through the second quarter, rising 13% year over year. CAVA posted TTM revenue of $1.4 billion, up 27%. Booking is serving a growing travel industry, and it's also currently expanding its addressable market with new offerings through its Connected Trip strategy. This means its revenue will likely continue to expand over the next decade, making it difficult for CAVA to reach it. Investors will want to watch CAVA's restaurant expansion, as it is early in opening more locations. Its restaurant base is still in the hundreds, and as it scales, its revenue and earnings potential will almost certainly grow. Before you buy stock in Booking Holdings, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Booking Holdings wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $419,408!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,348,694!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by nearly 5x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 20, 2026. John Ballard has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Booking Holdings and Cava Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Booking vs. CAVA: Comparing Total Scale and Growth Trajectories in Quarterly Revenue Trends was originally published by The Motley Fool

Image source: The Motley Fool. Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET Head of Investor Relations - Matt Milanovich Chief Executive Officer - Brett Schulman Chief Financial Officer - Tricia Tolivar Operator: Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to CAVA's Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Matt Milanovich, Head of Investor Relations. Matt, please go ahead. Matt Milanovich: Good afternoon, and welcome to CAVA's second quarter 2026 financial results conference call. Before we begin, if you do not already have a copy, the earnings release and related 8-K furnished to the SEC are available on our website at investor.cava.com. The purpose of this conference call is to give investors further details regarding the company's financial results as well as a general update on the company's progress. You will find reconciliations of any non-GAAP financial measure discussed on today's call to the most directly comparable financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP to the extent available without unreasonable efforts in today's earnings release and supplemental deck, each of which is posted on the company's website. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call will contain forward-looking statements. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors should be aware that any forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed here today. These risk factors are explained in detail in CAVA's most recent annual report on Form 10-K as may be updated by its reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the SEC. Please refer to these filings for a more detailed discussion of forward-looking statements and the risks and uncertainties of such statements. All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and except as required by law, CAVA undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. And now I'll turn the call over to the company's Co-Founder and CEO, Brett Schulman. Brett Schulman: Thanks, Matt, and welcome to the call, everyone. Our second quarter results underscore the continued strength of our category-defining brand and the resonance of our value proposition with today's consumer. From Mishawaka, Indiana to Downingtown, Pennsylvania, our newest restaurants continue to outperform our expectations, reinforcing the proven portability of our concept and the growing demand for our differentiated Mediterranean cuisine and welcoming hospitality. This strength, combined with the power of our unit economic model, gives us confidence not only in our momentum today, but in the long runway that lies ahead. Our second quarter financial highlights include a 31.3% increase in CAVA revenue, same restaurant sales of 9%, driven by 5.3% traffic, 17 net new restaurants, ending the quarter with 476 restaurants, a 19.6% increase year-over-year, adjusted EBITDA of $54.7 million, a 30% increase over the second quarter of 2025, net income of $23 million and $44.8 million in year-to-date free cash flow. While near-term macroeconomic conditions continue to evolve, our focus remains firmly on building for the long-term. We're seeing durable shifts in how consumers choose to eat with growing demand for bold, flavorful food, fresh ingredients and protein-rich meals that don't require compromising on health. Our Mediterranean cuisine sits at the intersection of these trends, making it increasingly relevant in today's environment and further reinforcing our confidence in the category we are pioneering. As the clear scaled leader in Mediterranean, we believe CAVA is uniquely positioned to capture the significant opportunity ahead with the strength and durability of our model, providing us with the flexibility to continue to invest with intention in our team members, our operations, the quality of our food and the everyday value we deliver to our guests. Whether it's strengthening our leadership pipeline through our Flavor Your Future Team Member development platform or building more consistent operational foundations through initiatives like CAVA Core and CAVA Current, we're making choices today that we believe will strengthen the business for years to come. You can see that long-term oriented approach come to life across our strategic pillars, beginning with our first, expand our Mediterranean way in communities across the country. During the second quarter, we opened 17 net new restaurants, ending the quarter with 476 locations across 29 states and the District of Columbia. Our momentum from the first quarter continued into the second, with restaurant expansion in both new and existing markets, including our recent entries into Indiana and Ohio. And as we look ahead into the second half of the year, I'm excited to share that we'll be making our entry into Las Vegas, Nevada and in 2027, our highly anticipated expansion to the Bay Area. Each new market continues to strengthen our confidence in the long-term opportunity ahead with second quarter new restaurant productivity once again above 100%, further demonstrating the broad appeal of our brand. As we continue to expand our Mediterranean Way across the country, culinary innovation remains at the heart of our journey. Seafood is a staple of the Mediterranean diet, and the second quarter marked an exciting milestone for us with the nationwide launch of our first-ever seafood offering, Pomegranate Glazed Salmon. As a natural complement to the way our guests are increasingly choosing to eat, salmon expands the variety of choices available, while staying true to the bold flavors and ingredient quality that define our brand. Guest reception has been strong and overall performance has been in line with our expectations. And while we're encouraged by Salmon's early performance, it represents just the beginning of a broader opportunity within seafood. I'm pleased to share that we've recently concluded the market test of our roasted garlic shrimp, another protein that aligns naturally with our menu. As with all of our culinary innovation, we'll continue moving through our disciplined testing process before determining the appropriate path forward, and we look forward to sharing more in the coming quarters. While our larger culinary launches continue to broaden our menu appeal, we believe smaller seasonal moments are just as important, giving guests new reasons to come back to CAVA more frequently. Recently, our Mediterranean summer campaign introduced a collection of limited-time offerings, including our Harissa BBQ Pita Chips, which bring together smoky, spicy, and subtly sweet flavors and a new take on one of our guest favorites and have quickly become one of my favorite additions to the menu. The campaign also includes our seasonal house-made strawberry ginger drink and our digital exclusive Pomegranate Glazed Salmon Bowl, extending the flavors of summer across even more guest occasions. These seasonal moments continue to reinforce the relevance of our brand while staying true to our concept essence. Shifting to our second strategic pillar, deepen personal relationships with guests even as we scale, we're encouraged by the continued growth of our loyalty platform and the new opportunities it creates. As our first-party audience grows, we're expanding what loyalty means at CAVA, creating experiences rooted in discovery, generosity, and meaningful connection. Building on the interactive digital experiences we introduced earlier this year, this past quarter, we launched Flavor Passport, an in-app experience that encourages guests to explore more of our menu while discovering new flavors and earning rewards along the way. It's another example of how we're continuing to evolve our loyalty platform while creating deeper, more meaningful connections with our guests. Just as importantly, we want every guest to feel welcomed and included, whether they're visiting CAVA for the first time or have been with us for years. To kick off the summer, we celebrated the summer solstice by surprising our rewards members with complimentary Pita Chips, another expression of our spirit of generosity. We brought that same spirit to life in our communities through our Mediterranean Summer Supper Series in partnership with Airbnb Experiences, where guests gathered around a shared table to experience the warmth, connection, and hospitality at the heart of CAVA. As part of the series, Oasis members received exclusive invitations, creating another meaningful way to deepen our relationships with our most engaged guests. These gatherings reflected something that has always been at the heart of CAVA, bringing people together through meaningful moments, genuine hospitality, and experiences that leave people feeling good about themselves. Ultimately, creating these moments for our guests starts with the people who show up every day to bring our Mediterranean hospitality to life, reflected in our third strategic pillar, Run Great Restaurants, Every Location, Every Shift. Great restaurants are built by great leaders, and we are committed to making CAVA the best general manager opportunity in the industry. That commitment comes to life through our Flavor Your Future initiative, our holistic team member development platform designed to attract, develop, and retain the next generation of leaders who will grow with us. Officially launched this past quarter, the program is committed to hiring more than 2,500 new team members, reinforcing our belief that the best guest experiences begin by investing in our people. And one of the things I'm most proud of is seeing our leaders continue to grow long after they become general managers. Earlier this summer, we welcomed more than 100 of our top-performing general managers to our Annual Academy GM Summit, where we celebrated excellence, shared best practices, and strengthened the leadership culture that drives CAVA forward. Spending time with these leaders is always one of the highlights of my year because you can see the true embodiment of our mission to bring heart, health, and humanity to life. Whether it is Kayla Jamie, who joined CAVA as a team member and within 2 years was leading one of our top-performing restaurants, or Brittany Huffman, whose journey from team member to Area Leader spans a decade, these stories remind us that the strongest leaders are built from within. Finally, investing in our people also means investing in the tools and processes that help them succeed. A meaningful example of that is our rollout of pre-marinated chicken, which we'll be launching in restaurants throughout the balance of this year and next year. This is a significant step forward in simplifying restaurant execution, improving product and flavor consistency, and reducing back-of-house workload. By taking time and complexity out of the kitchen, our teams can spend less time on manual prep and more time focused on what matters most, delivering exceptional hospitality and elevating our guest experience. We saw the impact of these intentional choices and the passion and excitement surrounding our brand throughout the Summer Supper Series. Our final Supper took place in San Francisco, where the energy from the community was a powerful reminder of how deeply CAVA continues to resonate in markets across the country. This excitement came to life online where our CAVA fan correctly guessed that we were entering the San Francisco market by sharing that they had been manifesting the news. That kind of anticipation is a powerful testament to the strength of our brand and the connection guests feel to CAVA even before we open our doors in a new community. I want to take a moment to address the recent food safety issues impacting the industry. While we do not source leafy greens from Mexico and do not serve iceberg lettuce on our menu, exiting Q2, we saw near-term sales impacts related to broad concerns around lettuce and fresh produce consumption due to the Cyclospora outbreak. We have since seen same-restaurant sales begin to rebound, a testament to the underlying strength of our long-term brand proposition. Additionally, we have not seen any immediate impacts related to the recent Salmonella outbreak, nor do we source from the associated farms. We continue to consult with our Food Safety Advisory Council of industry-leading experts to monitor the ongoing situation. We know consumer trust in the food system doesn't come easy right now, and it shouldn't be taken for granted by anyone in this industry. Every company that puts food on someone's table has a responsibility to earn that trust every single day, and that's our commitment at CAVA. As we reflect, we're incredibly proud of the progress we've made, but even more excited about the opportunity ahead. By continuing to invest in our people, our restaurants, and our guests, we're building a business designed to create meaningful value and impact for years to come. And none of this would be possible without our people. From our restaurant teams and field leaders to our support center and our production facility teams, their passion, dedication, and commitment is what brings our mission to life each and every day. I want to thank them for their positivity, generosity, curiosity, agility, and collective ambition. And with that, I'll turn it over to Tricia to walk you through the financials. Tricia Tolivar: Thanks, Brett, and hello, everyone. CAVA revenue in the second quarter of 2026 grew 31.3% year-over-year to $365.4 million. Same restaurant sales increased by 9%, driven by traffic growth of 5.3%. During the quarter, we opened 17 net new restaurants, bringing our total CAVA restaurant count to 476. And as Brett noted, we remain pleased with our new restaurant openings, and they continue to exceed expectations in both top line and margin performance with productivity above 100%. Our overall system-wide average unit volumes are now $3.1 million. CAVA restaurant-level profit in the second quarter was $93.8 million or 25.7% of revenue compared to $73.3 million or 26.3% of revenue in the prior year period, representing a 28.1% increase. CAVA's food, beverage, and packaging costs were 30% of revenue, higher than the second quarter of 2025 by 50 basis points, largely driven by input costs associated with the launch of Salmon, partially offset by favorable mix. We anticipate CAVA's food, beverage, and packaging costs to increase as a percent of revenue for the rest of the year as a result of fuel surcharges and the rollout of pre-marinated chicken. CAVA labor and related costs were 25.3% of revenue, up from the second quarter of 2025 by 30 basis points. This was largely driven by an incremental 3% wage investment in our team members, partially offset by sales leverage. CAVA occupancy and related expenses were 6.3% of revenue, an improvement of 50 basis points from the second quarter of 2025 due to sales leverage. CAVA other operating expenses were 12.8% of revenue, reflecting an increase of 40 basis points from the second quarter of 2025. This increase was primarily driven by a higher mix of third-party delivery. Shifting to overall performance. Our general and administrative expenses for the quarter, excluding equity-based compensation, were 9.3% of revenue compared with 9.8% of revenue in Q2 of 2025. The improvement is primarily due to leverage from higher sales and the timing of performance-based incentive compensation, partially offset by investments to support future growth. Preopening expenses were $6.7 million in the current quarter compared with $5.1 million in the prior year quarter. The $1.6 million increase includes a higher number of units under construction and additional investments in our new restaurant openings to support increased volumes. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was $54.7 million, a 30% increase versus Q2 of 2025. The increase was primarily driven by same restaurant sales and the number and continued strength in the performance of our new restaurant openings, partially offset by investments to support future growth. For the second quarter of 2026, equity-based compensation was $5.7 million. We continue to expect equity-based compensation, which includes our new programs to provide equity grants to general managers and performance-based LTI, to be between $22 million and $24 million in aggregate for the full year. In the second quarter, our effective tax rate was 24.7%. For the full fiscal year 2026, we continue to expect our effective tax rate to be between 23% and 28%, with the rate in the second half of the year being higher than the first half of the year due to the timing of equity-based vesting. As a reminder, the increase in our tax rate in 2026 versus the prior year is due to the lower permanent benefit from equity-based compensation. Our cash taxes will continue to be immaterial until we fully utilize our net operating losses. During the second quarter, we reported $23 million in net income compared to $18.4 million of net income in Q2 2025. Diluted EPS was $0.19 in the second quarter compared with $0.16 in the second quarter of 2025. The increase in net income and EPS was due to improved operating performance, partially offset by a higher effective tax rate, driven by a lower tax benefit associated with equity-based compensation, as well as higher depreciation and amortization. Turning to liquidity. At the end of the quarter, we had 0 debt outstanding, $435.6 million in cash and investments, and access to a $150 million undrawn revolver with an option to increase our liquidity if needed. Through the second quarter, cash flow from operations increased to $134.5 million in 2026 compared to $98.9 million in the prior year period. Year-to-date free cash flow was $44.8 million. This is the 10th quarter in a row of positive cash flow year-to-date. Now to go to our outlook for full year 2026. We are reiterating our guidance to expect the following: 75 to 77 net new CAVA restaurant openings, same restaurant sales of 4.5% to 6.5%, CAVA restaurant level profit margin between 23.7% to 24.3%, preopening costs between $22 million and $22.5 million and adjusted EBITDA, including the burden of preopening costs between $181 million and $191 million. I would like to share additional context on guidance. As Brett mentioned, there are broad consumer concerns around recent industry food safety issues. Earlier last month, concerns surrounding the Cyclospora outbreak impacted same restaurant sales. Those trends moderated meaningfully, though remained flat to positive. Performance improved sequentially each week and most recently, as concerns around the broader impact of the Cyclospora outbreak has begun to ease, our same restaurant sales performance has recovered to mid-single digits. Our maintained full year outlook incorporates the impact experienced to date as well as a prudent assumption regarding the duration of any remaining pressure along with the macroeconomic and geopolitical fluidity. Our conviction in the underlying health of the business remains unchanged, supported by the resilience of our sales trends, the strength of our brand and our compelling unit economic model. Shifting to restaurant level margin, our outlook reflects the impact of previously disclosed fuel surcharges and the partial rollout of pre-marinated chicken in the back half of the year. On the labor front, our guidance embeds continued investments in team member wages and opportunities to deliver on exceptional hospitality for our guests. Preopening expenses reflect the continued investments in new unit volumes, including onboarding general managers earlier to allow for more comprehensive training ahead of opening. Shifting to general and administrative expenses. Our outlook assumes increased spend in each of the third and fourth quarters as compared to the second quarter of 2026, with targeted investments to support our rapid growth. As a reminder, we remain focused on sustainable margin expansion over time, and we will continue to make investments where we believe they strengthen the guest experience, support our team and generate attractive returns. We evaluate the models for adjusted EBITDA, net income, EPS, free cash flow and cash-on-cash returns. Together with the continued strength of our new restaurant openings and attractive cash-on-cash returns, these results reinforce our confidence that the model is converting growth into increased earnings and cash flow while supporting thoughtful investments for the long-term. Throughout our journey, we have remained focused on our mission to bring heart, health and humanity to food, expressed through the warm hospitality and human connection that defines our brand. We will remain focused on staying true to that mission in every community we serve. With that, I'll turn it over to the operator for Q&A. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Dennis Geiger with UBS. Dennis Geiger: Wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the implied 2H outlook. Tricia, you gave some great commentary there. Just anything more about the back half implication as it relates to what gets you to the lower end, what gets you to the upper end? And specifically, that mid-single digit that you mentioned, just how you're thinking about that with respect to whether the food safety headlines are largely behind you? Just any more color there would be terrific. Tricia Tolivar: Thanks, Dennis. So as we talked about on the call, our guidance incorporates what we're seeing to date as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, but it's a very prudent assumption regarding the duration of the Cyclospora impact itself and what that will mean for the business. So if you look at guidance to deliver on the low end of the range, it would be slightly negative same restaurant sales. The upper end of the range would be in the mid-single-digit range. There's nothing in what we're seeing in our trends today that would suggest we would land at the lower end of the range, but we feel it's the most important thing to do is be prudent and thoughtful in that guidance and to reiterate where we were from a guidance perspective when we started. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Chris Carril with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Christopher Carril: I did want to ask about what's implied here in your guidance with respect to the restaurant level margin for the back half of the year. I appreciate all the color that you gave around margins and labor, specifically labor costs and food costs. But anything else as we think about kind of the cadence here, including the seasonality in the 4Q? Tricia Tolivar: Yes. So certainly, seasonality in the fourth quarter does tend to produce lower restaurant level margins anywhere close to 300 basis points overall when you look at Q3 to Q4 in historical time period. I don't anticipate that's going to change meaningfully. We do anticipate some incremental fuel surcharges. However, not to the extent that we expected last quarter, but we'll use some of that to invest in the rollout of pre-marinated chicken, which is something that our team members have been looking for. So to the extent we're continuing to make investments to reduce friction, drive hospitality and make sure that we can make things as simple as possible in our restaurants, we want to make -- continue to do that. Some of those margin investments will include labor investments, the continued focus around post-opening success in our restaurants, which we're pleased with what we're doing there from a labor investment perspective and then continuing to maintain reasonable pricing with no intention of changing pricing in the near future, so that we can make sure that we're continuing to drive the overall guest reception and that positive traffic. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Charles with TD Cowen. Andrew Charles: Brett, it's clear with 2Q's 9% same-store sales growth that you guys are offering a compelling guest experience at a great value and consumers are rewarding you for it. But within this fluid industry backdrop that's griping with negative food safety publicity, can you talk about the levers at your disposal that if you needed, you could help pull? You talked, for instance, in July about leaning the loyalty program with things like Flavor Passport and offering free Pita Chips. So I'm curious if you think there's more opportunity there if you kind of exhausted that perhaps as well on the marketing side, you guys typically run the lowest in the industry around 1% of your sales. Maybe it's an opportunity to step it up to help reattract traffic. Just want to get your thoughts just on other opportunities you have at your disposal to help reaccelerate and get back to the trends you were on before this all happened. Brett Schulman: Yes, Andrew, there's certainly opportunities on the marketing front, given our low levels of investment to ratchet up those investments. But I would say that the biggest opportunity still is delivering great experiences every day in every restaurant. That's clean restaurants, that's welcoming hospitality and it's consistently fresh food and excited with the progress that the team is making on that front. I think we are very good at delivering that. I think we have an opportunity to be exceptional at delivering that. And in an environment where consumers are dealing with a lot of challenges in the world today and in their daily life, to be able to walk into a CAVA and have an exceptional experience is really meaningful to them, and that's what we've seen the underlying strength throughout the course of this year. Andrew Charles: That's great. And maybe just one follow-up. You called out that Salmon performed in line with your expectations. And curious, how does that drive your longer-term thinking on the protein relative to your pledge to keep it through the end of 2026? Brett Schulman: Yes. What we saw with Salmon is what we've seen with a lot of our protein launches that our guests really love these consistent pulses of newness, and we try and balance that with operational complexity. And what we saw with Salmon was it certainly increased the rate of new customers. But within our loyalty program, we saw Salmon drive increased frequency of those who purchased Salmon. So we know our audience, our guests love to experience the culinary expertise of our team and our chefs, and they really enjoy when we bring new items forward. And that drives our loyalty program and the app, the traffic that we're able to drive through the loyalty program. And I think it also speaks to the opportunity for seafood in general. Seafood is a core aspect of the Mediterranean diet. This was our first foray into that. And we've tested our roasted garlic shrimp. We're very pleased with what we've seen in the test. We're going to continue to work that through our stage gate process, and we'll have more to come on the roasted garlic shrimp. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of John Ivankoe with JPMorgan. John Ivankoe: I wanted to follow-up on the marketing comment. Brett, you admit it's an opportunity, and I guess it's an opportunity for you to take maybe when you need it or when you feel the time is really right just from an overall scale perspective. So can you use your crystal ball and maybe tell us -- describe to us what marketing might look like 1 or 2 or even 3 years from now as the CAVA business gets bigger and you can spread the marketing out across a much bigger revenue base? Brett Schulman: Yes, John, like any investment we make in our business, Tricia talked about investments in our team members, investments in things like pre-marinated chicken to make our operations easier for our team or invest in our guests underpricing inflation, mitigating those menu price increases that we've seen from many others in the industry. We view marketing that same way. We want to get a return on that investment. And if we feel like it's prudent to lean into the marketing opportunity and we can get a return on that investment, we will do so. I do think over time, you'll see us increase that investment as a percentage of revenue. But when we think it's prudent, we've been able to drive tremendous awareness and excitement. We talked in the remarks about the pent-up demand in San Francisco that we're excited to enter the Bay Area and the 100% plus productivity of new restaurant openings that we've been able to achieve with just pent-up demand and excitement for our brand in these new markets. So again, we just want to be thoughtful and prudent in how we invest in this business and marketing is no different. John Ivankoe: Let me ask a question on the new unit volumes, which have been so strong and some additional preopening and just support of those restaurants from a staffing perspective and probably marketing as well have really helped. So I hate to ask this question, but I have to. As we think about comping those units next year, I mean, do you see anything extraordinary, for example, in the '25 class, the '26 class that would make it hard to grow when they enter the comp base? Or could we expect to hit higher highs despite the new units being so strong right out of the gate? Tricia Tolivar: John, we're really excited about what we're seeing from the 2024 cohort. Those units exceeded our expectations as well, and they are, in fact, double-digit same restaurant sales in the highest performing vintage that we have in our entire portfolio. And so we expect that '25 and '26 would perform in a similar fashion based on what we're seeing with that strong cohort. So they start out high, dip down a little bit and are a little bit of a headwind in their first year after opening, but then rebound very nicely and perform more like what we've seen historically from our restaurants. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Sharon Zack with [ Zea. ] Unknown Analyst: Just [indiscernible] question. I may have missed this, but do you have any update on your test in catering? And I'd also be interested if you have any use cases you could share for CAVA Core and CAVA Current and how it might be impacting the business at this point? Brett Schulman: Yes, Sharon. Catering, we will launch a second market test that we'll expand from our existing Houston market test. We will enter a second market with a catering test later this fall to, again, really understand and solve the question of load balancing and capacity management. So we've had a lot of progress, a lot of work on that front. But to us, that's the key question we need to solve for to make sure that when we roll that -- this out across the system that we have the right production capacity set up for the demand that our guests have for the catered product and that our team members are set up for success and can deliver on those commitments. So as it relates to CAVA Core and CAVA Current, very excited at the long-term potential of these investments in the infrastructure we've built. We're seeing significant productivity gains at our support centers and collaboration centers. When you think about analysis on the FP&A front or general insights into the business, we're now able to ask our data simple prompts or questions that we can get an answer to that would have taken analysts hours, if not days, to do on traditional Excel spreadsheets and the like. So we're seeing great productivity gains there. And then the ability to leverage the data and forecasting models eventually into restaurant productivity and efficiencies when you think about things like predictive labor scheduling, inventory ordering, predictive prep and predictive cook production, let alone on the marketing front when we lean into marketing, doing personalized A/B testing and content and copy and suggested offerings that will be very relevant to our guest behaviors and interest. So very excited. I've written about this in the shareholder letter the last couple of years. I think this is a decade-long transformation of data and seeing the very early impacts of that, certainly from an insights and analysis standpoint. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Brian Mullan with Piper Sandler. Brian Mullan: I just wanted to ask about the AGM position. Can you update us? Is that fully in place everywhere at this point? And is it having the impact you're hoping? And I know some of the benefits will be developing future leaders for new stores, but just specifically in terms of the impacts you're seeing at the store level now, could you just talk about what you're observing where that's in place? Brett Schulman: Our AGMs, the roles are now rolled out to 70% of our fleet, which was the intended amount of restaurants on the initial launch. We will review the other 30% to see if there's opportunities to expand that to the entire fleet. And we are encouraged by what we've seen on the initial rollout at the Phase 1 restaurants, where we've certainly seen improved team member satisfaction. We've seen improved guest satisfaction, and we think that will build over time that will drive traffic as we have better management complement every day, every shift. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Gregory Francfort with Guggenheim. Gregory Francfort: I just wanted to ask about maybe going back to margins. I think I understand the investments you're making on the labor and food side, but just the other OpEx line deleveraging on these comps. I guess just how much of that pressure is onetime maybe from R&M or utilities? And how much of it might be ongoing with delivery fees? And just as you look kind of beyond this year, do you expect that you can get maybe a little more leverage on that line or have some of the 2026 pressure reverse in '27? Tricia Tolivar: So as you look at the other OpEx line, the most significant component this year compared to last year was third-party delivery and the increase in overall mix. That mix has actually declined versus first quarter of 2026, and we anticipate because those mix shifts change towards the back half of 2025, that you won't see as much deleverage in that line and it will be more of a maintenance level as you go in through the rest of the year. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of David Tarantino with Baird. David Tarantino: I wanted to revisit the question on new unit productivity, which has been strong for several quarters in a row. And I guess my question is, I'm hoping you could comment on how broad-based that number is or how concentrated it might be with some of the enthusiasm you're seeing in some of these newer markets. So just kind of trying to get an idea of how the math is rolling up to that really strong number? And then I have a second question about it. Tricia Tolivar: Okay. Well, David, we're seeing that strength across the board. It's in all types of geographies, all types of formats, just the general rise in brand awareness has helped with that new opening performance itself as well as our team's investments in making sure they deliver on a great guest experience in addition to delivering on amazing culinary. So it's really consistent across the board. At this point, I haven't found a market that doesn't love CAVA, but we're seeing that and we're seeing strong performance in established markets and our growth emerging markets as well. David Tarantino: Great. And then I guess the follow-up question is, does it make you think that your unit volumes in the markets you're opening now are likely to be higher than the unit volumes that you've opened in the past, given that these are already opening at a much higher rate than what you've done in the past? I guess how do you think about that dynamic? Tricia Tolivar: Well, David, we're always trying to learn. So it's a dynamic we weren't expecting. And as you're calling out, we've been seeing for a little while now. What we're doing with the information is using it to fuel our models for site selection and understand that we're making the right choices for our new restaurants as they open so that we're delivering on those cash-on-cash returns with the most recent information that's available. So we'll keep a close eye on it. And if there's a need or a reason to update our thoughts on how restaurants will open in the future, we'll be sure to share that. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Brian Harbour with Morgan Stanley. Brian Harbour: Just with Salmon, is it still your expectation you'll keep that through year-end? And I guess could you comment on -- has the incidence been pretty steady since you launched it? Or has it kind of -- has it followed like a typical pattern of a limited time protein? And I guess, could you also just talk more broadly about kind of drivers of the mix component of same-store sales aside from that in the quarter? Tricia Tolivar: Yes. So thanks, Brian. So the Salmon incidence was in line with our expectations and remained pretty constant throughout the quarter itself. The whole thing about mix component of same restaurant sales, Salmon was a contributor to that, but we continue to see strong performance in our premium attachments and they drive a positive impact on mix. So it just wasn't Salmon alone delivering on that. And we'll continue to watch Salmon. As we said, it will carry through the end of 2026, and we'll have that same impact on restaurant level margins and COGS that we had talked about earlier. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Danilo Gargiulo with Bernstein. Danilo Gargiulo: You've always taken a very proactive approach to ensure high quality and food safety standards very high or maintained. But are you doing something different today, adding a little bit more scrutiny in light of the greater uncertainty around the Cyclospora and more recently Salmonella? And if so, how do you expect this to be impacting your margin in the near term? And for how long do you expect that to be a pressure? And then I have a follow-up. Brett Schulman: Danilo, we've always tried to invest ahead of our growth and proactively put measures in place to ensure that our guests can trust that we're operating in a food safe environment every day. A few years ago, we organized an external Food Safety Advisory Council of industry-leading experts, including Dr. James Marsden, Dr. David Acheson, and Scott Brooks, who continue to counsel us today. And even though we are not impacted directly by the ingredients that have been impacted in the current food safety issues, we're monitoring the situation. We're learning from the situation, understanding what other measures could be taken or should be taken in the future. I think that's the important thing in any food safety issue in the industry historically, how do we learn from that? How do we work with our supply chain partners and governmental agencies to understand how we can learn from it and go forward and improve upon what we've already put in place? So nothing specifically in the moment that we're doing beyond what we've already established, whether it's the Food Safety Advisory Committee or technology we put in years ago from a traceability standpoint so that we're able to identify down the [indiscernible] level throughout our supply chain in rapid fashion should any issues arise. Tricia Tolivar: And from a margin perspective, we're certainly not expecting any outsized investments necessary. As Brett mentioned, we're hyper focused on food safety, but we always have been. It's not something that's happening just as a result of this incident. Danilo Gargiulo: Excellent. And I'm very curious also on the pre-marination of chicken. I mean you think this might be simplifying the operations, improving perhaps also the experience of your labor in store. But I would imagine that it might be potentially leading to some labor cost savings over time, especially as you're thinking about the cumulative effect of centralization of more items. So my question is, what is the size of the pie here? And what other opportunities do you see in your portfolio of offering to maybe further centralize the food production, but without decaying the quality of what you're offering? Brett Schulman: Danilo, we've taken a little bit different angle on it, where we've looked at it and said, how can we invest in this and fund this and not tell our teams, hey, cut 3 or 4 hours out of the schedule now. Take those 3 or 4 hours that you're saving in manual prep and invest that in our guests and the hospitality and the service and the table touches and again, improving the environment for our team members and the environment for our guests, which we think is going to drive long-term sustainable, durable traffic growth. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Sara Senatore with Bank of America. Sara Senatore: I guess a question about social media. We talked about media a little bit here. But when I think about some of what you're doing in terms of like the Summer Suppers, things like that, it sort of strikes me as a way to earn social media, which I think is probably the most powerful. So as you think about doing these things, do you have any kind of metrics in place? The return on that would presumably be very high if you're getting kind of viral coverage or as you said, you have online fans talking about it. So just as you think about you kind of earned versus paid media, what your thoughts are on that? And then I do have a question on your comment about hospitality. Brett Schulman: Yes, Sara, I think it's interesting. There's been a lot of shifts in social media in the last 2 years and then the algorithm itself and the advent of AI and clipping and it has become a very noisy environment, and we've been leaning into more analog experiences. And really as an expression of our concept essence and wanting to foster human connection and our Mediterranean hospitality. And we think it's a way to bring people together to, as you said, create this kind of earned media and a more authentic way to drive engagement with our guests. And so I think you'll be seeing some more analog type experiences from us that then can create that amplification or network effect on social channels versus some of the tactics that were more utilized over the last couple of years that I think have been challenged in the recent changes in the landscape on social media. Sara Senatore: Got it. And I guess maybe I'll hold off on the question I was going to ask about the in-restaurant hospitality. But as you think about the management team, are there places where your executive team, like where you need to invest? I think maybe there's been some departures recently. So anything you can speak to on that? Brett Schulman: Yes. There is an opening on our leadership team, and we have shifted away. We had formerly a Chief Experience Officer position that we've shifted some of the digital aspects to our technology group, and we are in the process of bringing on board a new Chief Marketing Officer that will be focused on brand marketing and creative that we think -- we made a decision last year to bring in a new operational leader for the next chapter of our journey, and it was a similar situation where we wanted to bring on new capabilities from a marketing standpoint and shift the role to a more focused CMO role for the next chapter of our brand and marketing journey. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Sarang Vora with Telsey Advisory Group. Sarang Vora: Great performance this quarter. My question is about loyalty. I mean we are almost a year into the program of Sun, Sand. Can you share some metrics that you talked about the growth of the first-party engagement, how members are upgrading, how you are engaging with members? Anything that surprised you from the year that loyalty has been in place digitally or in-store usage? Any color you can share would be helpful. Tricia Tolivar: We are seeing great progress with our loyalty program and watching the programs work as designed, where we're providing offers to individuals that sooner in their life cycle, which is moving them up into the loyalty tiers at the rate that we expected. What we can say is our loyalty member base itself is growing at a faster rate than our new restaurant openings. So we're seeing that build over time, and it's nicely growing in line with our expectations. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of JP Wollam with ROTH Capital Partners. John-Paul Wollam: Just 2-parter here. I'm wondering, you talked about satisfaction, Brett, but can you quantify any kind of throughput impact that you've seen with stores that have the AGM role in place? And then just the kind of more strategic question, how do you flex your balance sheet, understanding that kind of the highest ROI is new store development? Is there anything you can do to help kind of support the accelerating unit growth, whether that's kind of anything one timy that's not necessarily pulling from restaurant level margin on a consistent basis, but really just a way to sort of deploy that nice cash balance you have there? Brett Schulman: The first part of your question, we've certainly seen improved speed of service or speed and service, we like to say, in these restaurants with our AGMs. We don't get into specific metrics or how many people per 15 minutes. We're very mindful that this is many of our guests' first time interacting with us or maybe first time experiencing some of the flavors of our cuisine. So we want to be fast enough, but we don't want them to feel rushed or hurried in their decision-making when we're in a brand-building phase. To the second part of your question in terms of what we could be investing in or leveraging our balance sheet to accelerate growth should -- were we so to choose to do so. I would point to our Flavor Your Future Team Member development initiative. This holistic team member development platform is really investing in building the future leaders of these new restaurants because we view that as the biggest governor to our growth. And so the deeper we have that pipeline, I think the more optionality we have to accelerate growth if we were to choose to do so. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Logan Reich with RBC Capital Markets. Logan Reich: I wanted to ask a follow-up on the advertising side. You guys have been testing some media mix modeling and optimization. Just wondering if you can give an update on the efforts there. And then second question is just on the income cohorts. I think last quarter, you talked about the lower income cohort growing actually faster than the higher income. So just wondering if you can provide an update on the income cohort growth as well. Tricia Tolivar: Yes. So from a media mix modeling perspective, we have deployed those tools, and we have taken the learnings from those to adjust our allocation of investments in paid media to drive the highest returns possible. And so there have been shifts at least on a quarterly basis that we've made as a result of those investments and the learnings that we've gotten. As we look at the income cohorts, we take every restaurant and stratify them based on the median household income in their market. And we are again seeing that the lower income cohorts are generating the highest same restaurant sales results. So really demonstrating the white space opportunity that we have and certainly, the investments that we're making in minimizing our price increases is translating into greater accessibility for many across the country. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Steve McManus with BNP Paribas. Stephen McManus: Curious what you were seeing through the quarter as it relates to daypart or occasion mix. Any meaningful shift there, particularly with Salmon? Curious to get any color there, that would be great. Tricia Tolivar: So our daypart and mix has been consistent quarter-to-quarter. No significant changes there. Currently, we really haven't seen any significant changes with the launch of Salmon, just really bolstering the business across the board. So nothing really to call out from last quarter to this quarter. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Margaret-May Binshtok with Wolfe Research. Margaret-May Binshtok: I just wanted to ask with some of the protein rich shift in eating that I think you guys have been talking about and as it pertains to some of the GLP-1 adoption that we've been hearing about, are you seeing customers using your menu any differently, whether that's double protein, protein attach, or smaller portions? Brett Schulman: We have seen our customers certainly opt in to double protein. And I think, in general, opt to CAVA. I mean we are protein-rich, fiber-rich, nutrient dense. GLPs are shifting folks more to our style of eating. We have seen some of our -- we call them big kids opt into our kids meal a little bit more in recent months from a portion standpoint. But in general, we've just seen more people shift into our brand and our style of eating in the Mediterranean diet, which addresses the protein needs that a lot of folks are looking for. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Brian Vaccaro with Raymond James. Brian Vaccaro: Brett, I had a great experience at your new location in the Atlanta Airport recently. So I know it's still early, but are there other airports or nontraditional sites in your pipeline over the next 12 to 18 months? Just curious how that plays into your broader growth plans. Brett Schulman: That's great to hear, Brian. Our airport locations are only licensed partner locations. We run all of our other restaurants. So it's great to hear our partners stepping up. Very excited to have Hartsfield open. We recently also opened at Logan Airport in Boston and not too long ago at LAX. We do have a few other restaurants in airport restaurant locations in the pipeline. It's not an accelerated initiative today, but we do think over time, that can be a nontraditional channel that can be very successful for us. We know our guests love to find us in an airport. We're a Mediterranean Oasis and what tends to be a healthy food desert. So we've seen great reception to CAVA in those locations. Brian Vaccaro: All right. And just a quick follow-up, if I could. Just on the strong comps that you saw in the second quarter. Tricia, you did mention some of the uncertain macro backdrop. And just curious if you saw any changes in trends through the quarter, any signs of sensitivity to gasoline prices, et cetera? Just kind of any changes through the quarter before the Cyclospora impacts hit into July? Tricia Tolivar: We did not experience material changes in the quarter. And keep in mind that our quarter ended right at the time when the Cyclospora events were taking place. And so there was a little bit at the end of the quarter and then carried into Q3. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Todd Brooks with Benchmark StoneX. Todd Brooks: Just a clarification. So Tricia, when you were kind of giving the shape to the Cyclospora impact, I think you said flat to -- slightly -- flat to positive, but that was across the entire incidence window. And the most recent couple of weeks here, it's been a return to mid-single. I just want to make sure I heard that right. And I have one more question. Tricia Tolivar: Yes. So it dipped initially to flat to positive and then each week sequentially got better and the last week was a mid-single-digit same restaurant sales. Todd Brooks: Perfect. And then just, Brett, just wondering, as we look to the second half, and I know that shrimp is now working its way through the stage gate. But as far as kind of culinary innovation back half of the year, anything to call out that we should be watching for either in the seasonal rotations or other introductions? Brett Schulman: Yes, we'll be along the lines, we will make a seasonal introduction. We will be bringing a new dressing forward. We will have another pita chip flavor, some of those more smaller seasonal moments that we speak to as opposed to the tentpole moment of Salmon. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jon Tower with Citi. Jon Tower: Great. It sounds like the past couple of quarters, your delivery sales have perked up quite a bit, at least that's -- we can pick up from the higher OpEx spend. And I'm just curious, was this something that you did intentionally? Or did you work specifically with the third-party delivery providers to show up better on the platforms? Or is this just an organic build that came through? Brett Schulman: Jon, I think this is a great example of trying to make intentional investments in our business and get a return on those investments for our shareholders and for our team members and our guests. And that was our KDS rollout last year that culminated at the end of the year that's helped drive better time and speed of service, better order accuracy, better productivity. And so in turn, we show up on the platforms with better ratings. We get optimized better and are more accessible for guests that are looking for a shorter window on those order lead times. So I just think it's a great example of how we've been able to drive some improvements in the business by making investments in the KDS. Jon Tower: Great. And maybe just one follow-up on the marinated chicken... Operator: Your next question comes from the line Jim Sanderson with Northcoast Research. James Sanderson: I wanted to go back to your commentary on free cash flow for the first half of the year. Do you expect your free cash flow to be positive for the remainder of 2026? And any commentary on CapEx you expect for the rest of the year that's beyond new store development? Tricia Tolivar: Yes. Certainly, the rest of the years are less seasonally favorable quarters and generate less free cash flow. And we do have CapEx intentions to create a robust pipeline for openings in 2027. So we'll keep a close eye on free cash flow. I expect the full year free cash flow to remain strong, but we want to make sure we're making the right investments in third quarter and fourth quarter for the future itself. From a CapEx perspective, looking at expectations, there's a little bit that we want to invest maybe $5 million or $10 million or so in our opportunities to continue to enhance our restaurants and improve the guest experience. So there'll be refreshes related to some aspects of Project Soul in some of our restaurants and perhaps some grill expansions to address the increased demand in some of our restaurants, and those will be included in CapEx. Operator: We have reached the end of the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to Brett Schulman, CEO, for closing remarks. Brett Schulman: Thank you for joining us today. Our second quarter results reflect the strength of our category-defining brand, the continued resonance of our value proposition and the passion and commitment of our team members. As we bring CAVA to more communities across the country, we will continue to invest with intention and make the thoughtful choices required to support durable growth. We are building CAVA not for the next quarter, but for the many years ahead, and we remain energized by the significant opportunity in front of us. With Labor Day approaching, I want to thank our team members for all they do to serve our guests every day. And I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable end to your summer. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. 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This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cava Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. CAVA (CAVA) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

CAVA’s second quarter results were met with a significant positive reaction from the market, reflecting investor approval of the company’s strong sales growth and operational performance. Management attributed the solid quarter to robust new restaurant openings and strong same-store sales, particularly emphasizing consumer demand for Mediterranean cuisine that balances flavor and health. CEO Brett Schulman highlighted, “Our newest restaurants continue to outperform our expectations, reinforcing the proven portability of our concept and the growing demand for our differentiated Mediterranean cuisine and welcoming hospitality.” The company also pointed to effective operational execution and ongoing menu innovation as supporting factors behind customer traffic and sales gains. Is now the time to buy CAVA? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $368.4 million vs analyst estimates of $359.7 million (31.3% year-on-year growth, 2.4% beat) Adjusted EPS: $0.19 vs analyst estimates of $0.18 (in line) Adjusted EBITDA: $54.72 million vs analyst estimates of $52.58 million (14.9% margin, 4.1% beat) EBITDA guidance for the full year is $186 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $190.6 million Operating Margin: 7.3%, in line with the same quarter last year Locations: 485.7 at quarter end, up from 409 in the same quarter last year Same-Store Sales rose 9% year on year (2.1% in the same quarter last year) Market Capitalization: $8.30 billion While we enjoy listening to the management’s commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls is the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Dennis Geiger (UBS) asked about the implications of recent food safety headlines on same-restaurant sales and how management was calibrating guidance. CFO Tricia Tolivar explained that guidance includes prudent assumptions about the duration of these impacts but noted recent sales trends have improved. Christopher Carril (KeyBanc Capital Markets) inquired about restaurant-level margin expectations and the impact of seasonality. Tolivar responded that Q4 margins typically decline due to seasonality and additional operational investments but anticipated those effects would be manageable. Andrew Charles (TD Cowen) queried what levers CAVA can pull to counteract industry headwinds, such as food safety news. CEO Brett Schulman emphasized focusing on consistent guest experience and noted room to increase marketing if needed. Sharon Zack (Zea) sought updates on catering tests and operational technology initiatives like CAVA Core and CAVA Current. Schulman said a second catering market test is planned and highlighted early productivity gains from data-driven restaurant management tools. Brian Harbour (Morgan Stanley) asked about the ongoing performance of the Salmon menu item and overall product mix. Tolivar indicated that Salmon sales remained steady and that premium product attachments contributed positively to sales mix. Looking ahead, the StockStory team will monitor (1) the pace and productivity of new restaurant openings, particularly in new markets like Las Vegas and the Bay Area, (2) the rollout and customer adoption of new menu items, including seafood and seasonal offerings, and (3) the evolution and impact of CAVA’s loyalty and digital engagement platforms. Progress in catering expansion and the effectiveness of operational investments will also be key indicators of execution. CAVA currently trades at $71.05, up from $60.81 just before the earnings. At this price, is it a buy or sell? See for yourself in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). WHILE YOU’RE HERE: Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. The best stocks don’t just beat the market once. They do it again. And again. Robust revenue growth, rising free cash flow, returns on capital that leave their competition in the dust. The market has already rewarded these businesses. But our AI platform says the party isn’t over. Find out which 9 stocks made the cut this week — FREE. Get Our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+1,154% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

Make better investment decisions with Simply Wall St's easy, visual tools that give you a competitive edge. CAVA Group stock has delivered a 70.4% return over the past three years, yet the latest valuation checks point to a company that appears expensive rather than clearly underpriced. Over the past three years, CAVA Group has returned 70.4%, which puts extra focus on whether the current share price already reflects most of the good news. Stronger recent revenue growth and restaurant expansion can support a premium, while lingering food safety and execution risks may limit how much investors are willing to pay for that growth. CAVA Group passes only 1 of 6 broad valuation checks, which suggests the stock leans expensive rather than offering a clear bargain. The stock's next move may depend on whether CAVA Group's current price is already factoring in its growth ambitions or still leaves room for further upside. CAVA Group delivered 4.7% returns over the last year. See how this stacks up to the rest of the Hospitality industry. The P/E ratio is a reasonable way to look at CAVA Group because the market tends to anchor restaurant stocks on earnings power once they reach scale. Right now CAVA trades at about 127.3x earnings, which is far above the Hospitality industry average of 23.1x and also above the peer group average of 37.2x. That puts the stock at a steep premium even when compared with other growth oriented restaurant companies. The fair P/E ratio from the model sits at 32.1x. The gap to the current 127.3x suggests the framework is heavily penalising CAVA Group for its risk profile and the quality and maturity of its earnings stream, so this fair figure is better read as a caution signal than a precise target. The current valuation implies investors are already paying a high price for the company’s growth story. On the P/E multiple, CAVA Group stock screens as clearly overvalued compared with both tailored and broad market benchmarks. See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown. Simply Wall St Narratives pick up where the CAVA Group valuation puzzle leaves off by spelling out what kind of growth, margins and earnings profile would need to hold for the stock to be worth materially more or less than today’s price. Each narrative pins a fair value estimate to a specific story about CAVA Group's potential catalysts and risks so you can track over time which version of events appears to be taking shape. Views on CAVA Group are sharply split, with one camp focused on the growth runway and another fixated on how much risk is already priced in. Bull case: 22% undervalued Read the full Bull Case to see why CAVA Group could be undervalued Bear case: 11% overvalued Read the full Bear Case to see why CAVA Group could be overvalued Do you think there's more to the story for CAVA Group? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying! CAVA Group now screens as overvalued on market multiples, with a very wide gap between its current P/E and the levels suggested by broad and tailored benchmarks. That premium rests heavily on investors believing the growth story can sustain both rapid expansion and improving earnings quality. The key question from here is whether CAVA Group can deliver the kind of durable revenue growth and margin profile that keeps justifying such a rich multiple, or whether expectations eventually cool and the valuation settles closer to peers. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include CAVA. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. A great in-restaurant experience is Cava’s best opportunity to win over customers after a cyclosporiasis outbreak weighed on traffic across the quick-service restaurant industry, CEO Brett Schulman said on a Q2 2026 earnings call Tuesday. A combination of cleanliness, hospitality and consistently fresh food are driving the effort, according to Schulman. Cava doesn’t serve iceberg lettuce or source leafy greens from Mexico, where the outbreak originated, but it was affected by the broader consumer pullback. “In an environment where consumers are dealing with a lot of challenges in the world today and in their daily life, to be able to walk into a Cava and have an exceptional experience is really meaningful to them, and that's what we've seen the underlying strength of throughout the course of this year,” Schulman said on the call. Cava’s continued investments in the experience, including in its loyalty program and workforce initiatives, helped drive a solid quarter despite the impact of the cyclosporiasis outbreak. Same-restaurant sales grew 9% year over year in the second quarter of 2026, driven in part by a 5.3% increase in traffic, according to an earnings release. Revenue grew 31.3% to $365.4 million, and net income rose to $23 million. Same-restaurant sales initially dipped to flat following the outbreak last month, according to CFO Tricia Tolivar. It has since improved sequentially each week, with same-restaurant sales returning to the mid single digits last week. The company will continue to strengthen its restaurants through the Flavor Your Future initiative, a program aimed at hiring more than 2,500 new employees while developing future restaurant managers, Schulman said. The program is “reinforcing our belief that the best guest experiences begin by investing in our people.” Cava continues to see progress with its loyalty program, which was revamped in October 2024, as well, according to Tolivar. The company has started providing offers to members sooner in order to get them moving up the loyalty tiers, and the program is growing in line with the company’s expectations. Another recent change was the launch of the Flavor Passport, an in-app experience that rewards members for exploring more of the menu, Schulman said. “It's another example of how we're continuing to evolve our loyalty platform while creating deeper, more meaningful connections with our guests.”

Interested in CAVA Group, Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. CAVA delivered strong Q2 growth: Revenue rose 31.3% to $365.4 million, same-restaurant sales increased 9% on 5.3% traffic growth, and adjusted EBITDA climbed 30% to $54.7 million. Expansion remains a key growth driver: CAVA opened 17 net new restaurants, ending the quarter with 476 locations, and maintained its full-year target of 75–77 openings and 4.5%–6.5% same-restaurant sales growth. Margins face cost pressure despite a solid balance sheet: Restaurant-level margin declined to 25.7% due to food, labor and delivery expenses, while the company reiterated its annual margin and EBITDA guidance and ended the quarter debt-free with $435.6 million in cash and investments. Investors Are Buying Into Sweetgreen Again—Should They? CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) reported second-quarter 2026 revenue growth of 31.3% as same-restaurant sales increased 9%, supported by 5.3% traffic growth and continued strength in new restaurant openings. Revenue rose to $365.4 million, while net income increased to $23 million from $18.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Diluted earnings per share were $0.19, compared with $0.16 a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA increased 30% to $54.7 million. → SoundHound AI Sends a Loud Signal After Its Q2 Earnings Beat CAVA Group’s Stock Looks Delicious After Strong Earnings “Our second quarter results underscore the continued strength of our category-defining brand and the resonance of our value proposition with today’s consumer,” Co-Founder and CEO Brett Schulman said on the company’s earnings call. CAVA opened 17 net new restaurants during the quarter, ending the period with 476 locations across 29 states and Washington, D.C. The company said new restaurant productivity remained above 100%, while systemwide average unit volumes reached $3.1 million. → 3 Dividend Champion Utilities for a Market That Can't Sit Still Shake Shack Stock Gets Shaken After Earnings Miss The chain expanded into Indiana and Ohio during the quarter and plans to enter Las Vegas in the second half of 2026. CAVA also said it expects to expand into the Bay Area in 2027. Chief Financial Officer Tricia Tolivar said the company’s new-unit performance was broad-based across geographies and restaurant formats. She added that the 2024 restaurant cohort has produced double-digit same-restaurant sales and represents the company’s highest-performing vintage. → Is Wingstop's Growth Story Losing Steam? CAVA maintained its full-year outlook for 75 to 77 net new restaurant openings and same-restaurant sales growth of 4.5% to 6.5%. Tolivar said the low end of that sales range would imply slightly negative same-restaurant sales, while the upper end would imply mid-single-digit growth. She said the company’s most recent same-restaurant sales performance had recovered to the mid-single digits after concerns over a Cyclospora outbreak affected sales earlier in the third quarter. CAVA said it does not source leafy greens from Mexico and does not serve iceberg lettuce, but it saw near-term sales pressure from broad consumer concerns about lettuce and fresh produce. Schulman said CAVA had not seen immediate effects from a separate Salmonella outbreak and does not source from associated farms. The company is continuing to consult with its food safety advisory council, he said. Restaurant-level profit rose 28.1% to $93.8 million, though restaurant-level margin declined to 25.7% of revenue from 26.3% a year earlier. Food, beverage and packaging costs represented 30% of revenue, up 50 basis points year over year, largely due to costs associated with the launch of salmon. Labor and related costs were 25.3% of revenue, up 30 basis points, driven in part by a 3% wage investment for team members. Occupancy and related expenses improved by 50 basis points to 6.3% of revenue due to sales leverage. Other operating expenses increased 40 basis points to 12.8% of revenue, primarily because of a higher mix of third-party delivery. Tolivar said food, beverage and packaging costs are expected to increase as a percentage of revenue through the remainder of the year because of fuel surcharges and the rollout of pre-marinated chicken. The company plans to roll out the chicken product across restaurants during the balance of 2026 and into 2027. Schulman said the pre-marinated chicken is intended to reduce manual kitchen preparation, improve consistency and allow restaurant teams to devote more time to guest service rather than requiring immediate labor-hour reductions. CAVA reiterated its full-year restaurant-level margin outlook of 23.7% to 24.3% and Adjusted EBITDA guidance of $181 million to $191 million, including pre-opening costs. The company expects fourth-quarter restaurant margins to be seasonally lower than third-quarter margins. During the quarter, CAVA launched Pomegranate Glazed Salmon nationwide, its first seafood offering. Schulman said guest reception was strong and performance was in line with expectations. The item increased the rate of new customers and helped drive purchase frequency among loyalty members who ordered salmon, according to the company. CAVA plans to retain salmon through the end of 2026. It also recently completed a market test of Roasted Garlic Shrimp and said the product is proceeding through its testing process. Planned seasonal offerings in the second half include a new dressing and another pita chip flavor. The company continued developing its loyalty program through the launch of Flavor Passport, an in-app feature intended to encourage customers to explore menu offerings and earn rewards. Tolivar said the loyalty member base is growing faster than the company’s restaurant count. CAVA also plans to launch a second catering market test later this fall, expanding beyond its initial test in Houston. Schulman said the company is focused on understanding production capacity, load balancing and restaurant execution before a broader rollout. On staffing, the company’s assistant general manager roles have been rolled out to 70% of the fleet. Schulman said the initial rollout has been associated with improved team-member and guest satisfaction, as well as improved speed of service. CAVA ended the quarter with no debt outstanding, $435.6 million in cash and investments, and an undrawn $150 million revolving credit facility. Cash flow from operations rose to $134.5 million through the second quarter, compared with $98.9 million in the prior-year period, while year-to-date free cash flow totaled $44.8 million. Tolivar said free cash flow typically becomes less favorable in the latter half of the year as the company invests in its development pipeline. CAVA also expects to invest roughly $5 million to $10 million in restaurant enhancements, including certain Project Soul refreshes and potential grill expansions to support demand at some locations. CAVA Group, Inc (NYSE: CAVA) is a leading fast-casual restaurant company specializing in Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. Operating under the CAVA brand, the company offers customizable bowls, pitas and salads built around a variety of proteins, grains, fresh vegetables and house-made spreads. With a focus on high-quality ingredients and made-to-order preparation, CAVA aims to deliver a casual yet elevated dining experience for dine-in, takeout and catering customers. Founded in 2011 in the Washington, DC metro area by Ike Grigoropoulos, Dimitri Katsanis and Brett Schulman, CAVA has pursued an aggressive growth strategy that included the 2018 acquisition of Zoe's Kitchen. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "CAVA Group Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

Cava Group (NYSE: CAVA) is known for its highly popular, fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chains. Focusing on healthy eating options and offering ample international growth opportunities, the business has flourished over the years. Recently, it posted its latest earnings, which came in better than expected by analysts. The growth stock has been rallying on the news. Could it be heading even higher, and is now a good time to buy it? Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » On Tuesday, Cava released its quarterly numbers for the period ending July 12. The results were encouraging as sales were up by 31% year over year, totaling $365.4 million -- analysts were expecting just $360 million. Same-restaurant sales growth was 9%, a good sign that the business is doing well organically, as that metric only considers restaurants that were open a year ago and excludes the impact of new locations. Analysts were anticipating organic growth of just 7.1%. While there have been worries that the cyclospora outbreak might weigh on not only the business but also the industry as a whole, the company's Chief Financial Officer, Tricia Tolivar, says the effects of that may not prove to be significant: "Concerns around the broader impacts of the cyclospora outbreak have begun to ease." For the full year, the company anticipates a slight slowdown, with same-restaurant sales growth expected between 4.5% and 6.5%. However, that's still a fairly strong rate in the industry, especially given the current macroeconomic challenges and uncertainty. For much of the year, Cava's stock has struggled, but with recent earnings giving it a boost, it's on a positive trajectory once again. Year-to-date, it's up around 18%. The problem with Cava's stock is that its valuation was already high to begin with, which means investors are paying for a lot of future growth. Its diluted per-share profit this past quarter was $0.19, and if that were maintained for a full year, it would equate to $0.76 over a 12-month time frame. With its share price at around $70 right now, that means it's trading at an earnings multiple of more than 90 -- assuming its earnings stay at around the same level. That's a rich premium even if its earnings were to rise higher, which is why I think Cava's stock might be too pricey to buy. This is a stock worth watching and keeping on a watch list, and it may be worth buying in the future, but at its current valuation, it looks too expensive. Before you buy stock in Cava Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Cava Group wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $403,337!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,334,946!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 12, 2026. David Jagielski, CPA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cava Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Cava's Stock Surges After Q2 Results. Is Now the Time to Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool

Cava Group (CAVA) reported $368.44 million in revenue for the quarter ended June 2026, representing a year-over-year increase of 31.3%. EPS of $0.19 for the same period compares to $0.16 a year ago. The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $353.31 million, representing a surprise of +4.28%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +5.56%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $0.18. 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. Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance. Here is how Cava performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: End of period CAVA Restaurants: 476 compared to the 478 average estimate based on seven analysts. CAVA Same Restaurant Sales Growth: 9% compared to the 7.2% average estimate based on seven analysts. Occupancy as a percentage of CAVA Revenue: 6.3% versus the five-analyst average estimate of 6.5%. New CAVA restaurant openings, including converted Zoes Kitchen locations: 17 compared to the 17 average estimate based on four analysts. Revenue- CAVA Restaurant: $365.43 million compared to the $355.61 million average estimate based on seven analysts. The reported number represents a change of +31.3% year over year. Revenue- Other: $3 million compared to the $2.59 million average estimate based on six analysts. The reported number represents a change of +26.9% year over year. Restaurant-Level profit- CAVA: $93.81 million versus $92.32 million estimated by four analysts on average. Restaurant-Level profit- Other: $1.77 million versus $1.68 million estimated by three analysts on average. View all Key Company Metrics for Cava here>>> Shares of Cava have returned -13.1% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +2.1% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CAVA Group, Inc. (CAVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

CAVA Group, Inc. CAVA delivered earnings of $0.19 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, up 18.8% from $0.16 a year ago and surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.18 by 5.6%. Total revenues rose 31.3% year over year to $368.44 million and beat the consensus mark of $353 million by 4.4%.Results reflected continued restaurant expansion and healthy guest demand. CAVA opened 17 net new restaurants, while same restaurant sales increased 9%, including Guest Traffic growth of 5.3%. The CAVA unit’s revenues increased 31.3% year over year to $365.43 million in the fiscal second quarter. The increase primarily reflected contributions from 94 net new CAVA restaurant openings during or subsequent to the second quarter of fiscal 2025, along with higher sales at restaurants in the comparable base. CAVA Group, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | CAVA Group, Inc. Quote Menu price and product mix contributed 3.7 percentage points to same restaurant sales. Average unit volume rose to $3.09 million from $2.94 million a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with 476 CAVA restaurants, up 19.6% year over year, while new restaurant productivity remained above 100%. CAVA’s restaurant-level profit increased 28.1% year over year to $93.81 million. However, restaurant-level profit margin contracted 60 basis points to 25.7%, reflecting a less favorable cost mix despite strong restaurant sales.Food, beverage and packaging costs rose 50 basis points to 30.0% of revenues, largely because of input costs tied to the Pomegranate Glazed Salmon launch. Labor and related costs increased 30 basis points to 25.3%, reflecting an incremental 3% wage investment. Occupancy improved 50 basis points to 6.3%, while other operating expenses increased 40 basis points to 12.8% on a higher mix of third-party delivery. CAVA paired growth with stronger cash generation through the second quarter of fiscal 2026. Net cash provided by operating activities increased 36.0% year over year to $134.5 million from $98.9 million, primarily reflecting improved operating performance and favorable working capital changes. Purchases of property and equipment totaled $89.7 million, resulting in year-to-date free cash flow of $44.8 million, up from $21.9 million a year ago.Liquidity remained solid at the end of the fiscal second quarter. CAVA held $322.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $112.8 million in fixed-income investments, representing approximately $435.6 million of combined cash and investments. The company had no borrowings under its $150 million revolving credit facility and had $149.1 million of available borrowing capacity, net of $0.9 million in outstanding letters of credit. CAVA reiterated its fiscal 2026 outlook for 75-77 net new restaurant openings and same restaurant sales growth of 4.5%-6.5%. The company continues to expect a restaurant-level profit margin of 23.7%-24.3%, pre-opening costs of $22.0-$22.5 million and adjusted EBITDA of $181-$191 million.Management said industry concerns around the Cyclospora outbreak pressured same restaurant sales around quarter-end, but trends improved sequentially and most recently recovered to the mid-single digits. The outlook also incorporates expected fuel surcharges, the partial rollout of pre-marinated chicken and continued wage investments, while management indicated fiscal fourth-quarter restaurant-level margins historically decline by close to 300 basis points from the fiscal third quarter because of seasonality. CAVA currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Some better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Retail-Wholesale sector have been discussed below.BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 127.9%, on average. BJRI stock has surged 72.2% year to date. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BJ's Restaurants’ 2026 sales and EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 4% each.Five Below, Inc. FIVE presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 70.1%, on average. FIVE stock has gained 24.3% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Five Below’s 2027 sales and EPS indicates growth of 15.1% and 36.1%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels. FIGS, Inc. FIGS has a Zacks Rank #2 at present. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 201.8%, on average. FIGS stock has risen 24.8% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FIGS’ 2026 sales and EPS indicates growth of 18.2% and 57.9%, respectively, from the prior-year levels. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CAVA Group, Inc. (CAVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (BJRI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Five Below, Inc. (FIVE) : Free Stock Analysis Report FIGS, Inc. (FIGS) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Tuesday, August 11th, 2026Pre-market futures are correcting Monday’s slight selloff at this hour; ultimately, as we had said in this space yesterday, we don’t expect much movement either direction until inflation reports begin to hit the tape Wednesday morning with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation Rate. The Dow is +71 points presently, the S&P 500 +16 and the Nasdaq +129 points. Early this morning, the NFIB Small Business Index for July came in at 99.8 — the highest rate since August of last year, which was 100.8. (For scale, the 12-month low was 95.3 in March of this year.) Eight of 10 components in this survey were optimistic, and 20% of small business owners plan to create new jobs in the next three months. The top issue these small business owners had last month were labor quality and availability. Estimates for July Existing Home Sales — a metric of the housing market that could use some good news — are expected to tick down to 4.05 million seasonally adjusted, annualized units, down for the second-straight month from a near-term high 4.19 million units in May. In the last report, only the Northeast increased in existing home sales, +2.1% to 0.48 million units; the South dipped -3.6%, the Midwest was -3.0% and the West -1.3%. Ahead of today’s open, Cardinal Health CAH posted mixed fiscal Q4 results, beating expectations by +20% to earnings of $2.91 per share on revenues of $63.67 billion, which missed the Zacks consensus by -2.96%. Higher 2027 earnings guidance, however, is keeping Cardinal shares buoyant: up marginally on the news, +15% year to date. For more on CAH’s earnings, click here.Chinese audio entertainment platform Tencent Music TME beat earnings estimates by a penny to $0.25 per ADS, on revenues of $1.32 billion (U.S. dollar equivalent), which was shy of the $1.35 billion analysts had been expecting. Shares had gone up +12% over the past month, and have given up -10% of its stock price on the news in early trading.After the close today, Super Micro Computer SMCI is expected to grow +65.85% on earnings per share, +91% on revenues. The data center technology services provider has outpaced earnings estimates in each of the past three quarters.AI GPU infrastructure provider CoreWeave CRWV shares are up +2% early today, ahead of its earnings report after the closing bell. Earnings are anticipated to tumble -333% for Q2, but gain +109% on quarterly revenues. Three of the past four quarters, CoreWeave has missed earnings estimates.Fast-casual restaurant chain Cava Group CAVA is expected to report fiscal Q4 earnings up +12.5% per share this afternoon, on +25.9% on revenues. The company has beaten estimates in three of the past four quarters; shares are up modestly ahead of the open.Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) : Free Stock Analysis Report Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tencent Music Entertainment Group Sponsored ADR (TME) : Free Stock Analysis Report CAVA Group, Inc. (CAVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Cava Group (CAVA) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.19 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.18 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.16 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +5.56%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this Mediterranean restaurant chain would post earnings of $0.17 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.2, delivering a surprise of +17.65%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Cava, which belongs to the Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry, posted revenues of $368.44 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.28%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $280.61 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Cava shares have added about 4.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 13.3%. While Cava has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Cava was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.14 on $360.93 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.54 on $1.49 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Retail - Restaurants is currently in the bottom 31% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, Jack In The Box (JACK), has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 12. This burger chain is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.90 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -11.8%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.3% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. Jack In The Box's revenues are expected to be $260.04 million, down 21.9% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CAVA Group, Inc. (CAVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Janus Henderson Sustainable & Impact Core Bond ETF (JACK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research