Dine Brands Global
DIN on NYSE. Dine Brands Global licenses restaurant names to owners, and sells them food. Market value $378m.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
A big one-off write-off makes recent profit look smaller than the business earns, so we leave price to profit out.
Recent profit includes a one-time gain, so we price the company excluding that gain.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
See cheaper Retail & consumer stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $1.69 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 18 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 79 of 100. Price score: 32 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$29.52 a share, 27% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $23.23 to $39.68.
Dividend: 5.4% a year
Paid every year for 4 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: $6 million in the past 12 months, $53 million in the year to December 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $896m | $909m | $831m | $812m | $879m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 21.6% | 20.1% | 22.3% | n/a | n/a |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.02bn | 0.02bn | 0.02bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)8 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- DebtUnknown
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 5.0% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 19% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $241 million last quarter, up 4% on a year ago.
- Profit: $4 million, down 69% on a year ago.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $6 million, down from $93 million.
- 19% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $1.1 billion more than cash, up from $1 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $195m |
| December 2024 | $205m |
| March 2025 | $215m |
| June 2025 | $231m |
| September 2025 | $216m |
| December 2025 | $218m |
| March 2026 | $225m |
| June 2026 | $241m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $19m |
| December 2024 | $5m |
| March 2025 | $8m |
| June 2025 | $14m |
| September 2025 | $7m |
| December 2025 | -$12m |
| March 2026 | $7m |
| June 2026 | $4m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 25 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 4 November 2026
Who owns it
3 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 2 last quarter. 149 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $22m | <0.1% | Added |
| First Eagle Investment ManagementMatthew McLennan | $21m | <0.1% | New |
| Oasis ManagementSeth Fischer | $4m | 0.4% | New |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$48mAdded
- Morgan Stanley$36m
- Cibc World Market$25mCut
- LSV Asset Management$22mAdded
- Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund$22mNew
- First Eagle Investment Management$21mNew
- Vanguard Capital Management$19mAdded
- Nomura Holdings$15mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$14mAdded
- SG Americas Securities$12mNew
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor8.8%+1.2 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- AllianceBernstein L.P.Passive investor8.6%+8.5 ptsSince 31 March 2025
- Morgan StanleyPassive investorat least 6.9%+1.6 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 31 March 2026
- Millennium Management LLCPassive investorat least 2.9%−2.5 pts(filed with 2 related holders)Since 30 June 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
- Capital Research Global InvestorsPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2025
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 8.8%+1.2 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
AllianceBernstein L.P. Passive investor | 8.6%+8.5 pts | 31 March 2025 | |
Morgan Stanley Passive investor | at least 6.9%+1.6 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 31 March 2026 | |
Millennium Management LLC Passive investor | at least 2.9%−2.5 pts (filed with 2 related holders) | 30 June 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 | |
Capital Research Global Investors Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2025 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 4 insiders bought $438,015 of shares on the open market. 1 sold $51,984.
- Hyter MichaelDirectorSold
- Date
- 8 May 2026
- Shares
- 1,800
- Price
- $28.88
- Value
- $51,984
- PASQUALE DOUGLAS MDirectorBought
- Date
- 13 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,000
- Price
- $27.75
- Value
- $27,750
- PASQUALE DOUGLAS MDirectorBoughtunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 12 March 2026
- Shares
- 2,000
- Price
- $28.25
- Value
- $56,500
- PASQUALE DOUGLAS MDirectorBoughtunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 10 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,000
- Price
- $29.00
- Value
- $29,000
- PASQUALE DOUGLAS MDirectorBought
- Date
- 9 March 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $30.00
- Value
- $15,000
- PASQUALE DOUGLAS MDirectorBought
- Date
- 3 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,500
- Price
- $29.50
- Value
- $44,250
- PASQUALE DOUGLAS MDirectorBought
- Date
- 2 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,500
- Price
- $30.04
- Value
- $45,060
- Poulter MarthaDirectorBought
- Date
- 5 December 2025
- Shares
- 650
- Price
- $33.16
- Value
- $21,554
- DAHL RICHARD JDirectorBought
- Date
- 21 November 2025
- Shares
- 3,600
- Price
- $27.47
- Value
- $98,892
- Berk Howard MDirectorBought
- Date
- 7 November 2025
- Shares
- 4,082
- Price
- $24.50
- Value
- $100,009
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 May 2026 | Hyter Michael Director | Sold | 1,800 | $28.88 | $51,984 |
| 13 March 2026 | PASQUALE DOUGLAS M Director | Bought | 1,000 | $27.75 | $27,750 |
| 12 March 2026 | PASQUALE DOUGLAS M Director | Bought under a preset trading plan | 2,000 | $28.25 | $56,500 |
| 10 March 2026 | PASQUALE DOUGLAS M Director | Bought under a preset trading plan | 1,000 | $29.00 | $29,000 |
| 9 March 2026 | PASQUALE DOUGLAS M Director | Bought | 500 | $30.00 | $15,000 |
| 3 March 2026 | PASQUALE DOUGLAS M Director | Bought | 1,500 | $29.50 | $44,250 |
| 2 March 2026 | PASQUALE DOUGLAS M Director | Bought | 1,500 | $30.04 | $45,060 |
| 5 December 2025 | Poulter Martha Director | Bought | 650 | $33.16 | $21,554 |
| 21 November 2025 | DAHL RICHARD J Director | Bought | 3,600 | $27.47 | $98,892 |
| 7 November 2025 | Berk Howard M Director | Bought | 4,082 | $24.50 | $100,009 |
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.
None of the serious warning signs we check for were found. 1 thing worth knowing.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 25 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 5 Aug 2026 and 7 later 8-Ks.
Changed auditor
Worth knowingThe company changed its auditor (the firm that checks its books) in the last two years.
“On August 4, 2025, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Audit Committee”) of Dine Brands Global, Inc. (the “Corporation”) dismissed Ernst & Young LLP (“EY”) as the Corporation’s independent registered public accounting firm.”
From an 8-K filed 4 August 2025: Change of auditor. Read it in the filing
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
- It owes more than it owns on paper (negative equity). Often that's from borrowing to buy back shares.
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.