Noodles & Company Class A Common Stock (NDLS)

FairStock Score: 28/100 — RISKY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

As a value investor, I start with the business, not the ticker. Noodles & Company sells cooked-to-order noodles and related fast-casual fare through company and franchise locations, with 6,500 employees. It is a recognizable concept, but I see little durable moat: restaurant competition is fierce, switching costs are low, and pricing power is modest when revenue is essentially flat. In fiscal 2025, revenue was $495.1M versus $493.3M in fiscal 2024, and the net loss widened to $42.6M, or diluted EPS of -$7.36, from a $36.2M loss and -$6.37 EPS in fiscal 2024. The latest filed quarter, fiscal Q2 2026, showed revenue of $127.0M and a net loss of $4.0M, or -$0.67 diluted EPS, an improvement from the fiscal Q2 2025 loss of $17.6M, but still red ink. Financial health is not comforting: FairStock's Altman Z-Score is -0.84, ROCE is 1.60%, and the P/E is -3.63. The company has generated trailing free cash flow of $3.8M, a 4.4% FCF yield, which is a positive, but it is small relative to an $85.9M market cap and an EV/EBITDA of 27.59. The Piotroski F-Score of 5/9 is middling. With losses in each of the last four years and no Lynch category because of those losses, this looks more like a turnaround speculation than a Graham-style bargain. I would want consistent profits and a stronger balance sheet before calling it a sound value.

In plain English: Noodles & Company runs fast-casual restaurants serving noodles, pasta, soups, salads and appetizers. The business has lost money for years and sales are barely moving, so the underlying business looks weak. At the $14.40 close on 2026-10-13, the price looks expensive compared with its small cash profit and continuing losses.

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Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-07-01) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-30) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2024-01-02)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer