Papa John's vs Wendy's
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Wendy's is the larger business, with $2.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.1B for Papa John's.
- Papa John's grew revenue faster (−0.3%, against −3.1%).
- Wendy's kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (15.8% operating margin, against 4.3%).
- Wendy's turned more of its sales into free cash flow (11.2% FCF margin, against 3.0%).
- Papa John's earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (19.3%, against 7.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Papa John's’s earnings: a P/E of 22.9x against 9.4x for Wendy's.
| Latest fiscal year | PZZA · FY25 | WEN · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $599M | $1.2B |
| Revenue | $2.1B | $2.2B |
| Free cash flow | $61.3M | $243M |
| Net income | $30.5M | $165M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −0.3% | −3.1% |
| 5-year growth | 2.5% | 4.7% |
| Share count change | 0.4% | −5.6% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 63.6% |
| Operating margin | 4.3% | 15.8% |
| Net margin | 1.5% | 7.6% |
| FCF margin | 3.0% | 11.2% |
| Return on capital | 19.3% | 7.8% |
| Return on equity | — | — |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $729M | $3.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.0x | 6.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $61.1M | $330M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.9x | 9.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 4 |
Revenue
FY16
PZZA $1.7B
WEN $1.4B
FY17
PZZA $1.8B
WEN $1.2B
FY18
PZZA $1.7B
WEN $1.6B
FY19
PZZA $1.6B
WEN $1.7B
FY20
PZZA $1.8B
WEN $1.7B
FY21
PZZA $2.1B
WEN $1.9B
FY22
PZZA $2.1B
WEN $2.1B
FY23
PZZA $2.1B
WEN $2.2B
FY24
PZZA $2.1B
WEN $2.2B
FY25
PZZA $2.1B
WEN $2.2B
PZZA
WEN
Operating margin
FY16
PZZA 9.6%
WEN 21.9%
FY17
PZZA 8.5%
WEN 17.6%
FY18
PZZA 1.9%
WEN 15.7%
FY19
PZZA 1.5%
WEN 15.4%
FY20
PZZA 5.0%
WEN 15.5%
FY21
PZZA 8.1%
WEN 19.3%
FY22
PZZA 5.2%
WEN 16.9%
FY23
PZZA 6.9%
WEN 17.5%
FY24
PZZA 7.6%
WEN 16.5%
FY25
PZZA 4.3%
WEN 15.8%
PZZA
WEN
Free cash flow
FY16
PZZA $94.7M
WEN $43.8M
FY17
PZZA $82.4M
WEN $157M
FY18
PZZA $50.4M
WEN $154M
FY19
PZZA $24.0M
WEN $214M
FY20
PZZA $151M
WEN $215M
FY21
PZZA $116M
WEN $268M
FY22
PZZA $39.4M
WEN $174M
FY23
PZZA $116M
WEN $260M
FY24
PZZA $34.2M
WEN $261M
FY25
PZZA $61.3M
WEN $243M
PZZA
WEN
Return on capital
FY16
PZZA 39.6%
WEN 7.1%
FY17
PZZA 36.3%
WEN 7.2%
FY18
PZZA 6.2%
WEN 7.0%
FY19
PZZA 15.5%
WEN 7.6%
FY20
PZZA —
WEN 6.9%
FY21
PZZA 122.5%
WEN 9.9%
FY22
PZZA 32.0%
WEN 8.2%
FY23
PZZA 38.5%
WEN 8.9%
FY24
PZZA 36.9%
WEN 8.4%
FY25
PZZA 19.3%
WEN 7.8%
PZZA
WEN
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.