CAVA GROUP, INC.

CAVAdata completeness 88%5 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'totalDebt'

The thesis, from the filings

CAVA GROUP, INC. earns about 13% on invested capital, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 16058% over 5 years — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $1.16 and $6.65 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$500.1M1$564.1M2$728.7M3$963.7M3$1.18B3
Net income−$37.4M4−$59M5$13.3M6$130.3M6$63.7M6
Operating cash flow$3.39M7$6.04M8$97.1M9$161M9$184.8M9
Capital expenditure$56.3M10$104.2M11$138.8M12$108.1M12$158.7M12
Free cash flow (derived)−$52.9M7−$98.1M8−$41.7M9$52.9M9$26.1M9
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$140.3M13$39.1M14$332.4M15$366.1M16$282.9M16
Diluted shares732,0001.3M63.4M118.3M118.3M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$65.92
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$5.39
Free cash flow it threw off
$2.21
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $65.92 of net worth that earned you $5.39 and generated $2.21 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
13% avg · 5y
FY21 FY22 FY23 9%FY24 18%FY25 13%

It earned about 13% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — comfortably above the cost of funding, a moderate advantage.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+16058% shares · 5y

Share count is up 16058% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $1.16 and $6.65 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$6.65
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth5.0%
  • fcfBase$26.1M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$6.31
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth5.0%
  • fcfBase$26.1M
Earnings Power Value
$1.16
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$13.3M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$8.95
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years5.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $6.31
The three cases
Bear0.0%$5.55
Base5.0%$6.31
Bull10.0%$7.23

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 5.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-26 · accession 0001628280-24-007277 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-25 · accession 0001628280-25-007882 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011296 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-26 · accession 0001628280-24-007277 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-25 · accession 0001628280-25-007882 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011296 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-26 · accession 0001628280-24-007277 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-25 · accession 0001628280-25-007882 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011296 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-26 · accession 0001628280-24-007277 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-25 · accession 0001628280-25-007882 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011296 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-26 · accession 0001628280-25-007882 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-25 · accession 0001628280-24-007277 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-007882 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-29 · accession 0001628280-26-011296 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)