Earnings Call Insights: El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO) Q4 2025 Management View CEO Elizabeth Williams highlighted "strong fourth quarter results that cap off a transformative second year" and noted "positive quarter of same-store sales growth, including stable traffic despite the ongoing macroeconomic challenges." Williams stated, "This top line momentum, combined with our team's relentless f...
Earnings Call Insights: El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO) Q4 2025 Management View CEO Elizabeth Williams highlighted "strong fourth quarter results that cap off a transformative second year" and noted "positive quarter of same-store sales growth, including stable traffic despite the ongoing macroeconomic challenges." Williams stated, "This top line momentum, combined with our team's relentless focus on operational excellence also enabled us to achieve better-than-expected restaurant level margins." Williams detailed the success of new menu items: "Our Double Chicken Street Corn and Queso Crunch Burrito Bowls that we launched in late September...exceeding our expectations in both guest response and sales contribution." Both bowls are now permanent menu items. Additionally, she described a robust innovation pipeline with upcoming launches including Loco Tenders and new beverage concepts. The company reported expanding its footprint to 9 states with 9 new restaurant openings in 2025, 6 of which were outside California and 7 utilizing second-generation sites to lower build costs. Williams shared, "The restaurants we've opened since 2024 are averaging over $2 million annually." Williams announced the addition of a Chief Technology Officer and a new VP of Franchise Recruiting to accelerate franchise development and technology deployment. CFO Ira Fils reported, "For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2025, total revenue was $123.5 million compared to $114.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024." Fils also noted, "Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $16.9 million compared to $14.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024." Outlook Williams stated the company is "targeting approximately 18 to 20 new restaurant openings with 3 to 4 being company-owned locations" in 2026, with the majority outside California. Fils provided 2026 guidance: "System-wide comparable store sales growth of 2% to 3%, the opening of 3 to 4 company-operated restaurants and 15 to 16 fra...
Donald Trump on Thursday shrugged off the economic toll the war in Iran is taking on gas prices across the US, writing on social media that “when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money”. The president’s comment came as the American Automobile Association reports that the average price for a gallon of gas hit $3.60, a week after the beginning of the US-Israel military operation against Iran promp...
Donald Trump on Thursday shrugged off the economic toll the war in Iran is taking on gas prices across the US, writing on social media that “when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money”. The president’s comment came as the American Automobile Association reports that the average price for a gallon of gas hit $3.60, a week after the beginning of the US-Israel military operation against Iran prompted the largest price spike since the opening days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Costs at the pump have increased in line with the price of crude, which climbed above $100 per barrel on Thursday as Iran launched attacks on oil facilities across the Middle East, despite the release of global petroleum reserves intended to stabilize markets. Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday 11 March.
Caller identity platform Truecaller recently launched a new feature that lets one person become an admin of a family group, get alerts about fraud calls received by other members, and even end a call on their behalf if they suspect a family member might get scammed. The company, which has over 450 million users, first launched the feature in December in a handful of countries like Sweden, Chile, M...
Caller identity platform Truecaller recently launched a new feature that lets one person become an admin of a family group, get alerts about fraud calls received by other members, and even end a call on their behalf if they suspect a family member might get scammed. The company, which has over 450 million users, first launched the feature in December in a handful of countries like Sweden, Chile, Malaysia, and Kenya. Truecaller said that after seeing promising results, it decided to roll it out worldwide, including in India, the company’s biggest market. The feature is free, and users can create groups even if they are not on a paid Truecaller plan. Image Credits: Truecaller With this feature, the tech-savvy member of a family or friends group can become the admin of an up to five-member group. Once the other members join the group, the admin can get alerts about potentially fraudulent calls those members receive. If the admin believes that the call could harm the member, they can remotely end the call as well. While the admin can get alerts for fraud calls when a member is using iOS or Android, they can only end calls for members on Android. On Android, members can also grant permission to the admin to detect real-time activity such as walking or driving, battery level, and phone sound settings (to check if the phone is in silent mode). Truecaller said this is helpful for admins to keep tabs on elderly members and to only call them when they are not walking or driving. Image Credits: Truecaller The admin can also block certain numbers and international calling codes, and share a blocklist with group members. Truecaller noted that the admin can’t see the non-spam call history or SMS history of group members. “I think, unfortunately, all of us know somebody or another in our families or friends who have been impacted by fraud,” Kunal Dua, VP of Product, at Truecaller, told TechCrunch over a call. “In that sense, it’s a fundamental shift for Truecaller in terms of what...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened lower on Friday to extend losses from the previous session as the conflict in Iran and across the Middle East intensified. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed serious concern over the escalating crisis in West Asia, warning that the situation poses a major threat to global peace and security. The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 697 points, or 0.9 perc...
(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened lower on Friday to extend losses from the previous session as the conflict in Iran and across the Middle East intensified. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed serious concern over the escalating crisis in West Asia, warning that the situation poses a major threat to global peace and security. The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 697 points, or 0.9 percent, at 75,337 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index dipped by 243 points, or a little over 1 percent, to 23,394. Among the prominent decliners, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, IndiGo, UltraTech Cement, BEL, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro plummeted 2-3 percent. Godrej Properties fell 1.3 percent after announcing it has entered the Coimbatore real estate market. Raymond Realty tumbled 2.6 percent after receiving a show cause notice from the Income Tax Department. Manorama Industries lost 3 percent on fund raising reports. Gravita India dropped 2 percent after it signed a pact to acquire a 98.95 percent stake in Rashtriya Metal Industries for Rs. 559.08 crore. ACME Solar Holdings soared more than 5 percent after commissioning the second phase of its battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Rajasthan. KPI Green Energy rallied 3.5 percent. The company said it has energized an additional 35 MWp of solar capacity. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Asean should position itself as a safe haven for investment amid worsening global volatility, the host country said as the region’s economic ministers kicked off their meeting in Manila on Friday. “Let us ensure that Asean remains a region where investment is met with certainty and where cooperation creates genuine opportunity for our people,” Philippine Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said in her ...
Asean should position itself as a safe haven for investment amid worsening global volatility, the host country said as the region’s economic ministers kicked off their meeting in Manila on Friday. “Let us ensure that Asean remains a region where investment is met with certainty and where cooperation creates genuine opportunity for our people,” Philippine Trade Secretary Cristina Roque said in her opening speech. Energy and financial markets worldwide have been upended with the Iran war in its second week. Southeast Asian nations, which are mostly reliant on imports for oil, are at risk of shortages, an inflation shock and currency volatility. Advertisement “Geopolitical tensions are no longer distant headlines. They are immediate economic shocks, they manifest in volatile energy markets, disrupted shipping lanes and shifting investor confidence,” Roque said. “Asean resilience is no longer aspiration, it is our primary shield.” The Philippines , this year’s Asean chair, is hosting the summit and related meetings this year. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a bloc of 11 nations, among them the fastest growing in Asia-Pacific, with a combined population of more than 600 million. A motorist refuels his motorcycle at a petrol station in Vientiane, Laos, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP The widening conflict in the Middle East is expected to dominate Friday’s discussions as officials weigh impacts and responses to surging oil prices as well as disruptions to shipping, logistics and trade flows across the region’s export-reliant economies.
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images Quarterly review The fund underperformed its benchmark, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index, for the three-month period that ended December 31, 2025. Duration, curve, and credit were additive while selection detracted. Market review Municipal bonds had a strong fourth quarter, posting a positive return of 1.56%. This outpaced most taxable fixed income asset classes...
ismagilov/iStock via Getty Images Quarterly review The fund underperformed its benchmark, the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index, for the three-month period that ended December 31, 2025. Duration, curve, and credit were additive while selection detracted. Market review Municipal bonds had a strong fourth quarter, posting a positive return of 1.56%. This outpaced most taxable fixed income asset classes. Only U.S. mortgage-backed securities ( MBS ) delivered a stronger fourth quarter return at 1.71%. Outside of MBS and tax-exempt municipals, the next best-performing fixed income asset classes were taxable municipals (1.37%) and U.S. commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS, 1.34%). While still positive, the 10-year Treasury and U.S. corporates had the lowest fixed income returns for the quarter at 0.83% and 0.84%, respectively. Within municipal credit tiers, BBB-rated bonds performed the best for the quarter, returning 1.77%. Interestingly, high yield municipal debt was the worst-performing municipal credit sector, though it still posted a positive return of 1.15%. For the year, returns were similar across all investment-grade municipal debt, with AAA- through BBB-rated bonds returning between 4.35% and 4.13%. The outlier for the year was high yield municipal debt, which returned just 2.46%. The high yield municipal sector was weighed down by a high-profile credit that experienced a technical default and was downgraded multiple notches. Despite this underperformance, municipal high yield spreads remain rich relative to historical averages. The municipal AAA yield curve flattened further in the fourth quarter, continuing the trend that began in September. While most of the curve flattening in the quarter happened in the first three weeks of October, the combined September/October flattening move was enough to completely unwind the steepening that took place in the first eight months of the year. The AAA municipal 2-year/10-year yield curve did move marginally steeper in...
Earnings Call Insights: Quest Resource Holding Corporation (QRHC) Q4 2025 Management View CEO Perry Moss stated that "our fourth quarter financial performance reflected a continuation of the soft volume environment we have been navigating for the past year." Moss explained that the company experienced a more pronounced sequential decline due to ongoing weakness in manufacturing and industrial outp...
Earnings Call Insights: Quest Resource Holding Corporation (QRHC) Q4 2025 Management View CEO Perry Moss stated that "our fourth quarter financial performance reflected a continuation of the soft volume environment we have been navigating for the past year." Moss explained that the company experienced a more pronounced sequential decline due to ongoing weakness in manufacturing and industrial output, and that even traditionally resilient segments like retail and restaurants saw lower volumes, which exacerbated the impact. Moss emphasized, "Importantly, we have not lost any customers in our industrial end market, which lends us confidence that we will see much improved financial performance when this sector recovers." He highlighted a focus on expanding share of wallet with existing customers and cited the onboarding of several hundred new locations for an automotive services client following a large acquisition as a testament to Quest's asset-light model and national reach. Moss reported that new business wins improved in the second half of 2025, with many opportunities moved into 2026. He said, "We remain very engaged with these prospects, and we believe that we will be able to successfully win and onboard many of these potential clients as the macro backdrop improves." Moss described progress across operational excellence initiatives, including increases in cost efficiencies, enhanced data and technology platforms, and improvements to the cash cycle process. CFO Brett Johnston stated, "Revenue for the fourth quarter was $58.9 million, a 16% decrease from 1 year ago and a sequential decrease of 7% compared to the third quarter." Johnston explained that the decline was mainly due to industrial end market weakness and the divested mall-related business, accounting for a $10.7 million reduction versus the prior year. He added, "gross profit dollars totaled $9.1 million, a decline of 15% compared to the prior year and a sequential decline of 21%. This resulted in a gro...