The Nasdaq Stock Market has warned Noodles & Company that its share price is too low to meet the exchange’s rules, the fast-casual noodle chain said in a filing on Tuesday.
Nasdaq informed Noodles on Dec. 24 that it was in noncompliance with the exchange’s minimum bid price requirement of $1 per share, and had been for more than 30 consecutive business days.
Noodles’ share price has been below $1 since Nov. 11.
It said in the filing that the Nasdaq notice has no immediate effect on the listing or trading of the company’s common stock on The Nasdaq Global Select market as it has 180 calendar days, or until June 23, to regain compliance. To do so, the stock’s closing price must be at least $1 per share for 10 consecutive days.
Nasdaq has the discretion to extend that period. Alternatively, Noodles & Company could be eligible for another 180-day grace period if it applies to transfer the listing to The Nasdaq Capital Market. Otherwise, its stock would be subject to delisting.
“The Company intends to monitor closely the closing bid price of its common stock and to consider all of the options for regaining compliance with Nasdaq’s Listing Rule 5450(a)(1), including by proposing a reverse stock split for stockholder approval, if necessary,” Noodles & Company said in the filing.
In a reverse stock split, a company combines multiple shares into one, reducing the number of total shares while increasing each share’s price. It’s often used to regain compliance with stock exchange requirements, as in this case.
The chain of 460 restaurants headquartered in Broomfield, Colo., has been struggling since early 2023, when traffic began to decline after Noodles raised its prices. Since then it has been working on operational efficiencies under chief executive officer Drew Madsen, who replaced Dave Boennighausen in late 2023, and a menu revamp that it plans to roll out later this year.
Noodles & Company’s highest stock price was $48.89 on Oct. 18, 2013. In recent years it peaked at $13.04 on Oct. 8, 2021.
It opened on Jan. 2, 2025, at 60 cents.
For the most recent quarter, ended Oct. 1, 2024, Noodles reported a net loss of $6.8 million, or 15 cents per share. Same-store sales were down by 3.3%, revenue was down by 4%, and traffic was down by 5.8%.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
