Skip to content
stoqly

Wendy's

WEN Nasdaq Restaurants Financials FY2016–FY2025

Wendy's revenue fell 3.1% to $2.2 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 15.8%, down from 16.5% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $243 million, down 7.0%. It paid out $330 million in dividends and buybacks, 136% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 5.6%.

Last close · Oct 23, 2026

$6.22

5.3%
Value it Compare
Revenue Total sales reported in the income statement.
$2.2B
3.1% vs prior year
Operating margin Operating income as a share of revenue.
15.8%
0.8 pts
Net income Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.
$165M
15.1%
Free cash flow Cash from operations minus capital spending.
$243M
7.0%
Return on capital After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.
7.8%
0.6 pts
Market cap Last close times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate.
$1.2B
Oct 23 close
P/E Last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters.
9.4x
On $0.66 EPS (TTM)

About these figures. Return on equity for fiscal 2025 is blank: the 10-K's structured data doesn't include every figure it needs.

What Wendy's does

Wendy's operates and franchises quick-service restaurants that sell hamburgers and other fast food. It says it is the second largest company in the U.S. hamburger sandwich segment by traffic and dollar share, with 7,397 restaurants in the U.S. and 38 other countries and U.S. territories at the end of 2025.

Nearly all restaurants are run by franchisees, who are independent owners. Of the 5,969 U.S. restaurants, 5,546 were run by franchisees and 423 by Wendy's itself. Franchisees pay a monthly royalty of 4.0% of sales, plus a fee for each new restaurant. The company reports three segments: Wendy's U.S., Wendy's International and Global Real Estate & Development.

Wendy's competes with other restaurant chains, grocery stores, food delivery services and other places that sell food. It announced a plan called Project Fresh in 2025, with four parts: brand revitalization, operational excellence, system optimization and capital allocation.

Legal name
Wendy's Co
Fiscal year ends
December 28, 2025
Latest annual report
10-K · Feb 23, 2026
Accession · CIK
0000030697-26-000009
0000030697

Revenue and margins

Wendy's had $2.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025, down 3.1% on the year before.

Revenue
Revenue
Margins, % of revenue
Gross Operating Net FCF
Margins, % of revenue
Gross Operating Net FCF

Net income and earnings per share

From fiscal 2016 to 2025, diluted EPS grew 6.3% a year. Loss periods are shown in red.

Net income
Net income
Diluted EPS
Diluted EPS

Returns on capital

After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.

Return on capital, equity and assets (annual)
Return on capital Return on equity Return on assets

Cash flow

Free cash flow was $243M in fiscal 2025, 11.2% of revenue. Cash from operations minus capital spending.

Free cash flow
Free cash flow
Cash from operations vs capital spending
Cash from operations Capital spending
Cash from operations vs capital spending
Cash from operations Capital spending

Dividends, buybacks and share count

Wendy's returned $330M to shareholders in fiscal 2025, 136% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 5.6%.

Dividends and buybacks
Dividends Buybacks
Dividends and buybacks
Dividends Buybacks
Diluted shares outstanding (annual)

Value Wendy's yourself

Change the assumptions and see what they imply per share. These are models, not forecasts or price targets — the answer depends entirely on what you put in.

Discounted cash flow

Value per share

—

Adds net cash of −$3.1B and divides by 194.0M diluted shares. Ten years of cash flows plus a terminal value, discounted to today.

Earnings multiple

Value per share

—

Reference multiples: today 9.4x · peers 57.6x · sector 17.9x.

Balance sheet

Cash, debt and the ratios that show how comfortably Wendy's can carry it.

Cash vs debt (incl. leases)
Cash Debt
Fiscal year endFY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Cash and short-term investments $249M$746M$516M$451M$301M
Debt incl. finance leases $3.0B$3.4B$3.4B$3.3B$3.4B
Net debt / EBITDA 5.5x5.5x5.5x5.6x6.3x
Debt / equity 6.8x7.4x10.8x12.9x—
Interest coverage 3.4x2.9x3.1x3.0x2.7x
Current ratio 1.4x2.7x2.2x1.9x1.8x
Quick ratio 1.4x2.7x2.2x1.8x1.7x
Total assets $5.1B$5.5B$5.2B$5.0B$5.0B
Total liabilities $4.7B$5.0B$4.9B$4.8B$4.8B
Shareholders' equity $436M$466M$310M$259M$117M
Net debt (− = net cash) $2.7B$2.7B$2.8B$2.9B$3.1B

Insider trades

Open-market purchases and sales by officers, directors and 10% owners, from Form 4 filings. 'Plan' marks trades under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.

Bought, 12 months

$0.0M

2 insiders

Sold, 12 months

$0.0M

0 insiders

Of sales under plans

—

$0.0M

DateInsiderTradeSharesPriceValueFiling
Nov 20, 2025 Peter J. Suerken JRPresident, U.s. Bought 500 $7.88 $0.0M Form 4
Nov 19, 2025 John MinChief Legal Ofcr & Secretary Bought 1,700 $8.18 $0.0M Form 4

Piotroski F-score

Nine pass/fail tests of profitability, funding and efficiency. 8–9 is strong, 0–2 weak.

TestFY23FY24FY25
Net income is positive ✓ ✓ ✓
Cash from operations is positive ✓ ✓ ✓
Return on assets rose ✓ ✓ ✕
Cash from operations exceeds net income ✓ ✓ ✓
Debt fell relative to assets ✓ ✕ ✕
Current ratio rose ✕ ✕ ✕
Share count didn't rise ✓ ✓ ✓
Gross margin rose ✓ ✓ ✕
Revenue rose relative to assets ✕ ✓ ✕
F-score 7 / 97 / 94 / 9
Accruals ratio −2.6%−3.2%−3.6%
Altman Z'' 1.401.251.13

Similar companies

Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so periods don't line up exactly.

CompanyMarket capGrowthOp. marginFCF marginROICP/EF-score
Wendy's WEN $1.2B −3.1% 15.8% 11.2% 7.8% 9.4x 4
Dave & Buster's PLAY $242M −1.4% 4.1% −4.8% 4.1% — 6 Compare →
Papa John's PZZA $599M −0.3% 4.3% 3.0% 19.3% 22.9x 4 Compare →
Dutch Bros BROS $5.6B 27.9% 9.8% 3.3% 11.9% 57.6x 5 Compare →
Shake Shack SHAK $2.7B 15.4% 4.3% 3.9% 9.6% 68.6x 7 Compare →

10 years of figures

US$ millions unless stated. Hover a ratio's name for its definition.

Download CSV
Fiscal yearFY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Income statement
Revenue $1.4B $1.2B $1.6B $1.7B $1.7B $1.9B $2.1B $2.2B $2.2B $2.2B
Gross profit $683M $706M $1.0B $1.1B $1.1B $1.3B $1.3B $1.4B $1.5B $1.4B
Operating income $315M $215M $250M $263M $269M $367M $353M $382M $371M $344M
Interest expense $115M $118M $120M $116M $118M $109M $122M $124M $124M $127M
Pretax income $202M $101M $575M $172M $153M $241M $244M $279M $272M $227M
Income tax $72.1M −$93.0M $115M $34.5M $35.0M $40.2M $66.1M $75.0M $78.1M $62.2M
Net income $130M $194M $460M $137M $118M $200M $177M $204M $194M $165M
Diluted EPS $0.49 $0.77 $1.88 $0.58 $0.52 $0.89 $0.82 $0.97 $0.95 $0.85
Diluted shares 0.27B 0.25B 0.25B 0.24B 0.23B 0.22B 0.22B 0.21B 0.21B 0.19B
Cash flow
Cash from operations $194M $239M $224M $289M $284M $346M $260M $345M $355M $345M
Capital expenditure $150M $81.7M $69.9M $74.5M $69.0M $78.0M $85.5M $85.0M $94.4M $102M
Free cash flow $43.8M $157M $154M $214M $215M $268M $174M $260M $261M $243M
Depreciation and amortization $124M $126M $129M $132M $133M $126M $133M $136M $143M $152M
Stock-based compensation $18.1M $20.9M $17.9M $18.7M $18.9M $22.0M $24.5M $23.7M $23.0M $14.6M
Acquisitions $2.2M $86.8M $21.4M $5.1M $4.9M $123M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $16.9M
Share buybacks $337M $126M $270M $218M $62.2M $269M $51.9M $190M $77.4M $201M
Dividends paid $63.8M $68.3M $80.5M $96.4M $64.9M $94.8M $107M $209M $204M $130M
Dividends and buybacks $401M $195M $350M $314M $127M $363M $159M $399M $282M $330M
Balance sheet
Cash and short-term investments $198M $171M $431M $300M $307M $249M $746M $516M $451M $301M
Total debt $2.5B $2.8B $2.3B $2.3B $2.2B $2.4B $2.9B $2.8B $2.7B $2.8B
Finance lease liabilities $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $492M $518M $575M $590M $589M $598M $673M
Current assets $453M $404M $666M $554M $688M $593M $1.1B $838M $736M $618M
Current liabilities $230M $227M $284M $350M $413M $427M $388M $382M $398M $351M
Inventory $2.9M $3.2M $3.7M $3.9M $4.7M $5.9M $7.1M $6.7M $6.5M $7.4M
Property and equipment, net $1.2B $1.1B $1.0B $977M $916M $907M $896M $891M $908M $938M
Total assets $3.9B $4.1B $4.3B $5.0B $5.0B $5.1B $5.5B $5.2B $5.0B $5.0B
Total liabilities $3.4B $3.5B $3.6B $4.5B $4.5B $4.7B $5.0B $4.9B $4.8B $4.8B
Shareholders' equity $528M $573M $648M $516M $550M $436M $466M $310M $259M $117M
Margins
Gross margin 47.6% 57.7% 65.5% 65.0% 64.5% 67.8% 63.1% 63.6% 65.1% 63.6%
Operating margin 21.9% 17.6% 15.7% 15.4% 15.5% 19.3% 16.9% 17.5% 16.5% 15.8%
EBITDA margin 30.6% 27.8% 23.8% 23.1% 23.2% 26.0% 23.2% 23.7% 22.9% 22.8%
Net margin 9.0% 15.9% 28.9% 8.0% 6.8% 10.6% 8.5% 9.4% 8.7% 7.6%
FCF margin 3.1% 12.8% 9.7% 12.6% 12.4% 14.1% 8.3% 11.9% 11.6% 11.2%
Returns
Return on capital 7.1% 7.2% 7.0% 7.6% 6.9% 9.9% 8.2% 8.9% 8.4% 7.8%
Return on capital employed 8.3% 5.7% 6.3% 6.1% 5.8% 7.9% 7.2% 7.7% 7.9% 7.4%
Return on equity 20.2% 35.3% 75.3% 23.5% 22.1% 40.7% 39.3% 52.7% 68.3% —
Return on assets 3.2% 4.8% 11.0% 3.0% 2.4% 4.0% 3.4% 3.8% 3.8% 3.3%
Growth
Revenue growth −23.3% −14.8% 30.0% 7.5% 1.5% 9.4% 10.5% 4.1% 3.0% −3.1%
Net income growth −19.6% 49.7% 137.1% −70.2% −14.0% 70.1% −11.5% 15.3% −4.9% −15.1%
EPS growth 0.0% 57.1% 144.2% −69.2% −10.3% 71.2% −7.9% 18.3% −2.1% −10.5%
FCF growth 93.0% 258.6% −1.7% 38.9% 0.4% 24.3% −34.9% 49.3% 0.2% −7.0%
Share count change −18.9% −5.4% −2.9% −4.0% −3.0% −1.6% −3.8% −2.0% −2.8% −5.6%
Financial health
Net debt / EBITDA 5.3x 7.6x 5.0x 6.3x 6.1x 5.5x 5.5x 5.5x 5.6x 6.3x
Debt / equity 4.8x 4.8x 3.6x 5.4x 5.0x 6.8x 7.4x 10.8x 12.9x —
Interest coverage 2.7x 1.8x 2.1x 2.3x 2.3x 3.4x 2.9x 3.1x 3.0x 2.7x
Current ratio 2.0x 1.8x 2.3x 1.6x 1.7x 1.4x 2.7x 2.2x 1.9x 1.8x
Quick ratio 2.0x 1.8x 2.3x 1.6x 1.7x 1.4x 2.7x 2.2x 1.8x 1.7x
Capital allocation
Capex / revenue 10.5% 6.7% 4.4% 4.4% 4.0% 4.1% 4.1% 3.9% 4.2% 4.7%
Stock comp / revenue 1.3% 1.7% 1.1% 1.1% 1.1% 1.2% 1.2% 1.1% 1.0% 0.7%
Payouts / FCF 915.0% 123.9% 227.0% 146.5% 59.0% 135.7% 91.0% 153.2% 108.0% 136.2%
Quality scores
Piotroski F-score 5.0 6.0 8.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 4.0
Altman Z'' 0.8 0.7 1.3 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.1
Accruals ratio −1.6% −1.1% 5.6% −3.3% −3.3% −2.9% −1.6% −2.6% −3.2% −3.6%

Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (CIK 0000030697). Data updated October 20, 2026. Quarterly fourth quarters are the full year minus the first nine months. For information only — not investment advice. Check the original filings before relying on any figure.

↑ ↓ to move · ↵ to open