Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG ) shares are trading marginally higher Thursday morning, attempting to stabilize after a marked decline that saw the stock hit new 52-week lows earlier this week. The fast-casual giant has struggled significantly in 2025, with shares now down approximately 47% year-to-date.

CMG stock is gaining positive traction. See what is driving the move here.

What To Know: The recent sell-off accelerated following a disappointing third-quarter report in late October. While adjusted EPS of 29 cents met expectations, revenue of $3 billion missed the $3.02 billion consensus.

More critically, investors were rattled by a 0.8% decline in foot traffic and compressing restaurant-level margins, which fell 100 basis points to 24.5% year-over-year.

CEO Scott Boatwright attributed the pullback to “young and lower-income consumers” feeling the squeeze of inflation. Despite this, management remains defiant, stating they will not lower prices or chase short-term traffic with discounts in order to preserve brand equity.

Benzinga Edge Rankings: Underscoring this weakness, Benzinga Edge data assigns the stock a Momentum score of just 6.65, signaling significant downward pressure alongside negative price trends across all time horizons.

CMG Price Action: Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG ) shares were up 0.77% at $31.56 at the time of publication on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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How To Buy CMG Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG ) – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

In the case of Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG ) , which is trading at $31.56 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 3.17 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

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