Noodles & Co key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Noodles & Co had an operating margin of -6.4% and a current ratio of 0.31. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Noodles & Co: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2011Jan 2012	2012Jan 2013	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Jan 2017	2017Jan 2018	2018Jan 2019	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Jan 2023	2023Jan 2024	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Gross margin	—	—	—	—	—	73.2%	73.4%	73.5%	74.7%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Operating margin	4.7%	5.3%	4.1%	4.7%	−4.6%	−13.9%	−7.4%	−0.8%	1.2%	−5.1%	1.2%	−0.2%	−1.0%	−5.6%	−6.4%	−2.6%
Net margin	1.5%	1.7%	1.9%	2.8%	−3.0%	−14.7%	−8.2%	−1.8%	0.4%	−5.9%	0.8%	−0.7%	−2.0%	−7.3%	−8.6%	−4.7%
Free-cash-flow margin	−0.8%	−5.1%	−3.1%	−1.8%	−1.2%	−3.8%	−3.7%	−2.0%	2.7%	−0.7%	3.7%	−4.8%	−4.9%	−4.3%	−1.0%	0.8%
Return on equity	77.3%	67.2%	9.9%	8.6%	−11.8%	−119.9%	−121.5%	−20.5%	3.4%	−58.0%	10.9%	−8.7%	−30.1%	—	—	—
Return on assets	—	3.3%	3.9%	5.4%	−5.8%	−31.9%	−19.0%	−2.9%	0.4%	−6.4%	1.1%	−1.0%	−2.8%	−10.5%	−14.5%	−9.4%
Asset turnover	—	1.91	2.04	1.89	1.90	2.17	2.31	1.59	1.20	1.08	1.37	1.49	1.41	1.42	1.69	1.99
Current ratio	—	0.68	0.76	0.88	0.77	0.53	0.50	0.62	0.51	0.41	0.29	0.34	0.34	0.31	0.31	0.29
Debt to equity	0.0%	907.9%	5.1%	19.4%	72.2%	330.8%	160.7%	96.2%	84.3%	147.5%	59.1%	120.0%	295.4%	—	—	—
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	2.0x	3.2x	6.5x	51.8x	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m	1.8x	n/m	2.8x	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m
Effective tax rate	31.7%	38.4%	41.7%	38.4%	—	—	—	—	5.9%	—	1.9%	—	—	—	—	—
Capital spending as % of revenue	11.7%	15.8%	15.5%	14.0%	11.0%	8.9%	4.6%	3.1%	3.8%	3.0%	4.0%	6.7%	10.3%	5.8%	2.5%	1.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	−55.5%	−296.6%	−162.0%	−64.1%	—	—	—	—	768.4%	—	474.5%	—	—	—	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0%	—	—	—	—	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Noodles & Co: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Oct 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Apr 2025	2025 Q2Jul 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Operating margin	−3.9%	−6.0%	−5.2%	−11.7%	−5.2%	−3.3%	−0.7%	−1.2%
Net margin	−5.5%	−8.0%	−7.3%	−13.9%	−7.5%	−5.5%	−2.8%	−3.1%
Free-cash-flow margin	−1.1%	−11.3%	0.9%	−3.4%	1.2%	−2.8%	3.2%	1.4%
Current ratio	0.31	0.31	0.29	0.31	0.34	0.31	0.28	0.29
Debt to equity	>999%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

0 of 5 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $236m

Short-term assets $19mLonger-term assets $217m

What it owes, and who funded it · $287m

Short-term liabilities $63mLonger-term liabilities $224mShareholders' equity $-51m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $19m of assets due within a year against $63m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $19m short-term assets against $224m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $1m of cash against $104m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Equity or debt not reported. Not assessable.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Five-year comparison not available. Not assessable.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $13m of operating cash flow against $104m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of −$13m against $11m of interest.

From Noodles & Co's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

33 /100

Weak moat

How hard Noodles &'s competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 0 / 20

Net income has been a median -5.6% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 10 / 20

Operating margin has been a median -2.6%; its worst year was -16.6%.
Cash conversion 3 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 3 of 10 years, at a median -1.4% of revenue.
Discipline 14 / 20

The diluted share count rose 9.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.7% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Noodles & Co's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Noodles & Co.