ARMK

Aramark

Fundamental data last updated:April 13, 2026

company profile

SECTOR

Industrials

industry

Specialty Business Services

Exchange

NYSE

County of HQ

United States

Next Earnings Date

05/05/26

Business Summary

Driven Brands operates a portfolio of automotive service brands focused on maintenance, repair, and vehicle appearance, generating revenue through franchised and company-operated locations. Its cash flow model relies on recurring consumer demand for essential vehicle services rather than discretionary vehicle purchases. Scale across brands provides procurement leverage, marketing efficiency, and cross-brand customer capture, forming its primary competitive advantage in a fragmented industry. The moat is operational density and brand network breadth, but it is execution-dependent and vulnerable to margin compression when traffic weakens or cost structures become misaligned.

VALUATION

P/E

36

Market Cap ($M USD)

$11,265

Forward P/E

16.4

PEG

1.2

PRICE TO SALES

0.6

PRICE TO BOOK

3.5

EV / EBITDA

13.5

5-Year Average P/E

DIVIDEND

Yield

1.10%

Annual Payout

$0.48

Payout Ratio

36.00%

Consecutive Years of Dividend Growth

1

5-Year Dividend Growth Rate

1.80%

Financial Health & Profitability

Earnings Per Share

$1.21

Next Year EPS Growth Estimate

$2.62

Next Year Revenue Growth Estimate

6.20%

Return on Equity (ROE)

9.90%

Operating Margin

4.20%

Debt-to-Equity

2.1

Piotroski F-Score

6

Altman Z-Score

2.4

Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)

7.00%%

Current Ratio

1.3

Quick Ratio

Gainseekers Quantitative Analysis

Summary

This is not a healthy balance sheet, but it is a controversial valuation setup. A Forward P/E of 9.2 suggests the market expects stabilization and normalized earnings despite a catastrophic trailing EPS of -1,719.30 and a deeply negative -24.30% operating margin. The Altman Z-Score of 0.8 signals genuine financial distress risk, and a -15.80% ROE confirms shareholder value destruction. The market is not mispricing strength here—it is pricing survival and potential restructuring; this is a leveraged turnaround speculation, not a quality compounder.

AI Exposure / Tech Reliance

As an Auto & Truck Dealerships operator, DRVN sits in a fragmented, service-heavy industry that can benefit from digital scheduling, pricing optimization, and AI-driven demand forecasting. Technology adoption in fleet maintenance, customer retention systems, and predictive service cycles could improve margins over time. However, the core business remains asset-heavy and operationally intensive, limiting true AI-driven margin expansion.

The Bull Case

A value-oriented investor could argue that the 0.8 Price/Sales ratio and 2.6 Price/Book indicate compression well below historical dealership platform valuations, while the 9.2 Forward P/E implies earnings normalization ahead. The Piotroski F-Score of 4 is not strong but suggests the company is not in complete operational freefall. With a 3.5 TTM yield and projected EPS Next Year (Est.) of -$1.47, bulls are betting on sharp margin recovery from the current -24.30% operating margin toward breakeven, which would dramatically re-rate equity given the $2,032M market cap. For deep value investors, this is a balance sheet repair story where even modest ROIC improvement from -1.80% could drive asymmetric upside.

The Bear Case

The bear case is severe and structural. An Altman Z-Score of 0.8 combined with a 0.9 current ratio screams liquidity pressure, while -15.80% ROE and -1.80% ROIC confirm capital destruction. Debt/Equity of 8.30% may look modest in isolation, but against collapsing margins and negative earnings it becomes far more dangerous, especially with no visible PEG Forward support and missing profitability metrics. Institutional Ownership at 19.43% and a Consensus Rating of 20.00% indicate limited conviction from professional capital, reinforcing that this is a distressed operator with execution risk, not a misunderstood compounder.

Market Sentiment & Smart Money

Short Interest %

4.00%

Analyst Consensus

1.33

Average Analyst Price Target

$48.21

Institutional Ownership %

99.40%

1-Year Beta

0.7

Insider Buying % (6 Mo)

0.60%%

Distance to 52-Week High

96.30%%

Distance to 52-Week Low

137.50%%