Arcos Dorados Holdings
ARCO on NYSE. Eating places. Market value $1.5bn.
This company reports once a year (it is based outside the US), so every figure comes from its annual report for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Worth a closer look
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
Nothing stood out in the numbers we check.
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $0.88 of spare cash last year. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 6.8 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 22 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 80 of 100. Price score: 71 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$8.12 a share, 22% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $6.63 to $9.75.
Dividend: 3.0% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $2.7bn | $3.6bn | $4.3bn | $4.5bn | $4.7bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 5.2% | 7.3% | 7.2% | 7.3% | 7.8% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 3.40 | 2.27 | 1.46 | 1.55 | 1.49 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.21bn | 0.21bn | 0.21bn | 0.21bn | 0.21bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive4 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)6 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt1.49× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 18.7% a year
- Buying back its own sharesRoughly flat
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 30 April 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- n/a
Who owns it
6 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 5 last quarter. 176 funds in all.
- Pzena Investment ManagementRichard Pzena
- Value
- $87m
- Share of fund
- 0.3%
- Moerus Capital ManagementAmit Wadhwaney
- Value
- $34m
- Share of fund
- 15.4%
- Auxier Asset ManagementJeff Auxier
- Value
- $3m
- Share of fund
- 0.5%
- Dodge & CoxDodge & Cox investment committee
- Value
- $910,506
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pzena Investment ManagementRichard Pzena | $87m | 0.3% | |
| Moerus Capital ManagementAmit Wadhwaney | $34m | 15.4% | |
| Causeway Capital ManagementSarah Ketterer | $16m | 0.2% | New |
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $8m | <0.1% | Added |
| Auxier Asset ManagementJeff Auxier | $3m | 0.5% | |
| Dodge & CoxDodge & Cox investment committee | $910,506 | <0.1% |
Largest holders overall
- Lazard Asset Management$199mAdded
- Pzena Investment Management$87m
- SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda$36mCut
- Moerus Capital Management$34m
- Morgan Stanley$32mCut
- Private Management Group$27m
- Mirae Asset Global Etfs Holdings$24mAdded
- American Century Companies$22mNew
- Invesco$17m
- Causeway Capital Management$16mNew
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
3 investors own more than 5%.
- Lazard Asset Management LLCPassive investor18.9%+1.2 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- Pzena Investment ManagementPassive investor8.7%+3.7 ptsSince 30 September 2025
- David Coppel CalvoPassive investorat least 7.3%(filed with 2 related holders)Since 31 December 2024
- T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 April 2025
- JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 May 2025
- College Retirement Equities Fund- Stock AccountPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 29 August 2025
- TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLCPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 29 August 2025
- TEACHERS ADVISORS, LLCPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 29 August 2025
- Nuveen Asset Management, LLCPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 29 August 2025
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Lazard Asset Management LLC Passive investor | 18.9%+1.2 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
Pzena Investment Management Passive investor | 8.7%+3.7 pts | 30 September 2025 | |
David Coppel Calvo Passive investor | at least 7.3% (filed with 2 related holders) | 31 December 2024 | |
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 April 2025 | |
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 May 2025 | |
College Retirement Equities Fund- Stock Account Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 29 August 2025 | |
TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 29 August 2025 | |
TEACHERS ADVISORS, LLC Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 29 August 2025 | |
Nuveen Asset Management, LLC Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 29 August 2025 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 1 sold $442,459.
- Hernandez Artigas CarlosDirectorSold
- Date
- 25 August 2026
- Shares
- 14,500
- Price
- $8.06
- Value
- $116,812
- Hernandez Artigas CarlosDirectorSold
- Date
- 24 August 2026
- Shares
- 17,843
- Price
- $8.15
- Value
- $145,447
- Hernandez Artigas CarlosDirectorSold
- Date
- 28 May 2026
- Shares
- 20,000
- Price
- $9.01
- Value
- $180,200
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 August 2026 | Hernandez Artigas Carlos Director | Sold | 14,500 | $8.06 | $116,812 |
| 24 August 2026 | Hernandez Artigas Carlos Director | Sold | 17,843 | $8.15 | $145,447 |
| 28 May 2026 | Hernandez Artigas Carlos Director | Sold | 20,000 | $9.01 | $180,200 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
Arcos Dorados Holdings doesn’t file a US annual report (10-K), so we haven’t checked it.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.