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what it is
Noodles & Company sells pasta, Asian noodle bowls, mac and cheese, and salads through restaurants, franchises, and digital orders.
how it gets paid
Last year Noodles & made $493M in revenue. mac and cheese bowls was the main engine at $133M, or 27% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 2.0% last year. Quarterly EPS history stayed negative through 2024, with losses of -$0.14, -$0.13, -$0.12, and -$0.12.
what just happened
The story is simple: revenue was $372M in the latest quarter, but losses stayed ugly at -$0.78 per share.
At a glance
C balance sheet — red flag territory — real financial stress
30/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
8.6% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$4.08 fy2024 eps est
$493M fy2024 rev est
xvary composite: 20/100 — weak
What they do
Noodles & Company sells pasta, Asian noodle bowls, mac and cheese, and salads through restaurants, franchises, and digital orders.
The moat is convenience, not power. You can get mac and cheese, pad thai, and salads in one stop, and that broad menu helps the chain fill $493 million of annual sales. But convenience is a thin moat when long-term debt is $244 million, or 87% of capital (capital → the money funding the business → so what: lenders matter almost as much as customers).
How they make money
$493M
annual revenue · their business grew -2.0% last year
mac and cheese bowls
$133M
asian noodle dishes
$113M
italian pasta dishes
$123M
salads and soups
$74M
franchise, digital, and other
$50M
The products that matter
comfort-food anchor
Mac & Cheese
core menu traffic driver
this is part of the menu trying to keep roughly 450 remaining restaurants relevant while the chain gets smaller.
unit traffic matters
italian pasta bowl
Penne Rosa
featured in the core menu mix
it sits inside a system that posted a 6.6% preliminary comparable sales gain in Q4 2025, which is encouraging but not enough on its own to fix a -9.2% net margin.
watch repeat traffic
global noodle dish
Pad Thai
brand identity item
this is the kind of menu item meant to justify the concept, but it still has to earn its place inside a $493M revenue base that declined 2.0% last year.
concept test
Key numbers
$4.08
2024 EPS est.
EPS → profit per share → so what: the company is expected to lose far more per share than the stock price itself.
5.6%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: every $100 of sales produced a $5.60 operating loss.
$244M
long-term debt
Long-term debt → money owed for years → so what: the debt stack is almost 7 times the company's roughly $36M market value.
87%
debt to capital
Debt to capital → how much of the business is funded by debt → so what: lenders have an enormous claim on this company.
Financial health
C
strength
- balance sheet grade C — very weak — significant financial distress
- risk rank 5 — safer than 5% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $244M (87% of capital)
C — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for NDLS right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
The story is simple: revenue was $372M in the latest quarter, but losses stayed ugly at -$0.78 per share.
Quarterly EPS history stayed negative through 2024, with losses of -$0.14, -$0.13, -$0.12, and -$0.12. That lines up with the annual picture: flat-to-down sales and negative operating margins.
$372M
revenue
$0.78
eps
n/a
n/a
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was -$0.78 of EPS, because profit per share → what the business earned for each share → so what: it shows the turnaround still is not paying your bills.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is restaurant closures failing to fix unit economics.
high
restaurant closures do not improve the remaining base
The company plans to close 30–35 more restaurants in 2026 while the remaining footprint sits at roughly 450 locations. If weak stores disappear but store-level margins still do not improve, you are left with a smaller problem company.
lower revenue, weaker brand relevance, and less room to service debt
high
losses keep outrunning the turnaround
A -9.2% net margin on roughly $493M of revenue implies about $45M in annual losses. With $244M in long-term debt and a C balance sheet, this is not the kind of income statement that lets management miss twice.
dilution, refinancing stress, or a harsher restructuring path
med
the 6.6% comp gain proves temporary
Preliminary Q4 2025 comparable sales rose 6.6%, which helped sentiment. If that fades in the next report, the market is left with the old story: declining revenue, negative EPS, and store closures.
the one fresh bull point disappears and the multiple has nowhere to hide
med
activists force a strategy before operations stabilize
Galloway Capital Partners increased its stake, and Diveroli Investment Group endorsed a strategic review. Activist pressure can create urgency, but it can also push management toward financial engineering before the restaurants are fixed.
abrupt leadership, capital allocation, or sale-process changes
You own a $36M equity stub sitting under $244M of long-term debt, with a -9.2% net margin and another 30–35 closures planned.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
whether comp sales turn into margin recovery
A 6.6% preliminary comp gain is nice. What you need next is proof that traffic and pricing are actually lifting restaurant-level economics and narrowing the -9.2% net margin.
calendar
Q4 2025 and full-year results
This report should show whether the preliminary sales improvement holds up and what management expects from 2026 after another round of closures.
risk
closure pace versus remaining store health
Closing 30–35 units is only good news if the rest of the fleet gets stronger. Watch for commentary on traffic, labor, and store profitability at the remaining roughly 450 restaurants.
trend
strategic review pressure from activists
A sale, recapitalization, or sharper turnaround plan could all enter the picture. When activists are in the room, the timeline usually gets shorter.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
30 / 100
Low score. In human-speak, analysts do not trust this business to produce steady numbers yet.
balance sheet grade
C
Balance sheet grade. In plain English: the capital structure adds stress instead of absorbing it.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for NDLS is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$1
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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