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what it is
Kura Sushi USA runs a Japanese restaurant chain with moving sushi belts and 56 locations.
how it gets paid
Last year Kura Sushi Usa made $283M in revenue. Revolving sushi plates was the main engine at $140M, or 50% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 18.9% last year. The $73M revenue print mattered because it was up 14%.
what just happened
Revenue hit $73M, up 14%, but EPS was still -$0.25.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
20/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
0.9% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$0.16 fy2025 eps est
$2B fy2026 rev est
xvary composite: 39/100 — weak
What they do
Kura Sushi USA runs a Japanese restaurant chain with moving sushi belts and 56 locations.
You are not buying a plain sushi bar. You are buying 56 locations built around revolving belts, tablet ordering, and a prize machine. That makes leaving annoying, because your meal habit and your points live in one place. Management plans 16 new restaurants for FY2026, so the story is 56 stores today versus 72 if the plan lands.
How they make money
$283M
annual revenue · their business grew +18.9% last year
Revolving sushi plates
$140M
Hot dishes and drinks
$48M
Seasonal menu collabs
$35M
Takeout and delivery
$30M
Rewards and add-ons
$30M
The products that matter
core dine-in restaurant sales
Restaurant sales
$273M · 96.5% of disclosed revenue
This is the business. It produced $273M and grew 18.9%, which sounds good until you remember the company still runs at a -4.7% operating margin.
nearly all revenue
small add-on revenue stream
Other revenue
$10M · 3.5% of disclosed revenue
Only $10M comes from outside the core restaurant box. That's too small to change the margin story if store-level economics stay soft.
limited diversification
new restaurant openings
Expansion pipeline
83 locations now · 16 planned in FY2026
The bull case is footprint growth: 83 locations today versus 56 before, with 16 more planned. If new units do not lift margins, growth just scales the headache.
the real bet
Key numbers
$283M
annual sales
You get $283M of food sold across 56 stores. A few new openings move the number.
56
locations
That is 56 chances to pull in dinner traffic. One weak site still dents the total.
$173M
long-term debt
Debt equals 20% of capital. That is real leverage, not decorative finance.
1.7%
operating margin
Every $100 of sales leaves $1.70 short before interest and taxes. That is the whole story.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $173M (20% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for KRUS right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $73M, up 14%, but EPS was still -$0.25.
Sales grew 14% from the year-ago quarter, yet losses stayed in place. The company is opening stores fast while margins stay thin.
$73M
revenue
$0.25
eps
8.8%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The $73M revenue print mattered because it was up 14%, but the quarter still lost $0.25 per share.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
KRUS is not fighting abstract "restaurant risk." It is fighting a very specific problem: opening more conveyor-belt sushi locations before the existing base proves it can earn solid margins.
med
unprofitable expansion
The company plans 16 new restaurants in FY2026 while operating at a -4.7% margin. More units can help if store economics improve. If they do not, losses simply scale with the footprint.
The near-term impact is simple: more capital goes out before meaningful profits come in.
med
traffic sensitivity
Restaurant sales make up 96.5% of disclosed revenue. Q1 revenue beat estimates by only $75K, which is close enough to say demand is not giving the company much room to hide.
If traffic cools, nearly the entire revenue base feels it at once.
med
valuation without profits
A 292.4x trailing P/E and a stock that swung from $40 to $96 in a year tell you expectations are doing a lot of work. The market is pricing a cleaner margin story than the company has delivered.
If margins stay negative longer than expected, the multiple can compress long before the restaurant base matures.
With 96.5% of disclosed revenue tied to restaurant sales and margins still negative, this stock is exposed to one question above all others: can unit growth become profitable before investor patience runs out.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
the number that mattered
operating margin
Revenue growth gets the headlines. The -4.7% operating margin tells you whether the model is actually maturing. If that number does not improve, the rest is decoration.
calendar
next earnings and comp read
The next quarterly report is the cleanest test of whether traffic and unit growth are moving together or pulling in opposite directions.
trend
16 planned openings
Every new location is a referendum on the rollout strategy. More openings look bullish on paper. They only matter if returns improve from the current 0.9% return on capital.
risk
post-promotion traffic
The anime collaboration ends Apr 30, 2026. Watch what happens after the limited-time event leaves. That is when you find out how sticky the customer base really is.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
20 / 100
Low predictability means the quarterly numbers can swing around. In human-speak, analysts do not trust this business to print clean, steady results yet.
risk rank
4
Risk rank 4 means it is safer than only 20% of stocks in this framework. That is not bunker status. That is small-cap execution risk with a sushi belt.
price stability
5 / 100
A 5 / 100 stability score lines up with the $40–$96 trading range. You should expect sentiment to matter almost as much as fundamentals here.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for KRUS is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$69
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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