Central Garden & Pet Company Class A Common Stock Nonvoting (CENTA)

FairStock Score: 51/100 — MIXED

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I look for businesses that earn good returns on capital and sell at a sensible price. Central Garden & Pet operates in two steady consumer-defensive segments, Pet and Garden, with 6,000 employees. The demand may be repeat-purchase, but the numbers show a business treading water rather than compounding. In fiscal Q3 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-27, revenue was $882.4M, net income $89.9M and diluted EPS $1.45. That compares with fiscal Q3 2025, the quarter ended 2025-06-28, when revenue was $960.9M, net income $95.0M and diluted EPS $1.52. So sales fell about 8% and profits slipped. Full-year FY2025, period ended 2025-09-27, had revenue of $3.1B, net income $162.8M and EPS $2.55; FY2024, period ended 2024-09-28, had revenue $3.2B, net income $108.0M and EPS $1.62; FY2023, period ended 2023-09-30, had revenue $3.3B, net income $125.6M and EPS $1.88. Revenue has drifted down, while profit improved in FY2025 but remains uneven. FairStock calls it a SLOW GROWER, with profit up 6.2% a year over five years and revenue up 3.0%, though recent reported figures are weaker. Returns are modest: ROE 9.97% and ROCE 4.31%, with debt-to-equity 0.81. Cash flow is more appealing: TTM free cash flow of $345.6M gives a 15.7% FCF yield, Piotroski F-Score is 7/9, and EV/EBITDA is 7.29. At the 2026-10-13 close of $35.53, P/E is 13.16 and P/B is 1.27; Graham Number is $41.18, only a 13.72% margin of safety. Altman Z-Score is 1.92. This is a cheap-looking slow grower, not a wonderful business at a bargain price. I would want evidence of stabilizing sales and better capital returns before calling it compelling.

In plain English: Central Garden & Pet sells pet supplies and lawn and garden products. In the latest reported quarter, sales and profit were lower than a year earlier, and sales have edged down over recent fiscal years. The stock price looks modestly cheap to fair compared with the company's profits and net assets, but the business is growing slowly.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q3 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-27) · fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-28) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2025-12-27) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-28) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-09-27) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-09-28) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-09-30)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer