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Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG

Chipotle Mexican Grill scores good on business quality (7.2 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$31.59Oct 10, 2026
Business qualityGood
Next earningsOct 28, 2026, after the close
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What Chipotle Mexican Grill does

    Chipotle Mexican Grill operates a fast-casual restaurant chain, selling burritos, bowls, and tacos directly to consumers through company-owned stores. Revenue comes entirely from food and beverage sales. Menu innovation is ramping up 4x to sustain restaurant traffic growth.

  2. What it does best

    Chipotle operates entirely company-owned restaurants, yielding a gross margin of 29.5% that outpaces Starbucks' 22.3%. This model protects food quality control and pricing power without franchisee friction.

  3. The main risk

    Inflationary pressures on food and labor inputs threaten margins, as menu innovation ramps up 4x to sustain traffic growth against mounting consumer price resistance.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityFair

Operating margin sits at 15.1% with an ROE of 53.3%, expanding steadily as unit-level scale efficiencies offset rising labor costs.

MoatStrong

Brand intangible assets and operating efficiency drive an operating margin in the top quartile of its sector at 65th percentile rank.

GrowthSteady

Revenue grew to $12.4B, marking a 5.4% growth rate that shows a slower pace compared to historical double-digit expansions.

Financial healthStrong

Debt-free balance sheet with $1.0B in cash and negative net debt of $1.0B, backed by $1.6B in free cash flow, getting stronger.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

1 sold $96K outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on CMG

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is CMG a good business?

Chipotle Mexican Grill scores good on the Cluenex quality check (7.2 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat strong, growth steady and financial health strong.

Are insiders buying CMG?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $96K outside pre-planned sales.

When does CMG report earnings?

Oct 28, 2026, after the close.

For members

See CMG today

  • Today's verdict on CMG, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
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Cite this page: Cluenex, “Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/cmg/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.