Fast food chain El Pollo Loco (NASDAQ:LOCO) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow after market hours. Here's what you need to know.

El Pollo Loco beat analysts' revenue expectations by 2.9% last quarter, reporting revenues of $112.2 million, down 3.2% year on year. It was a  very good quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' gross margin estimates and a narrow beat of analysts' earnings estimates .

Is El Pollo Loco a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting El Pollo Loco's revenue to decline 3% year on year to $111.1 million, a reversal from the 4.1% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.14 per share.

The majority of analysts covering the company have reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. El Pollo Loco has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates three times over the last two years.

Looking at El Pollo Loco's peers in the traditional fast food segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. McDonald's delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 4.6%, meeting analysts' expectations, and Restaurant Brands reported revenues up 9.4%, topping estimates by 2.2%.

Read our full analysis of McDonald's results here and Restaurant Brands's results here.

Growth stocks have been quite volatile since the start of 2024, and while some of the traditional fast food stocks have fared somewhat better, they have not been spared, with share prices down 3.6% on average over the last month. El Pollo Loco is down 9.6% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $10.5 (compared to the current share price of $8.36).

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