Lifeway Foods Inc. Common Stock (LWAY)

FairStock Score: 59/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

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

Lifeway is a small consumer-defensive maker of probiotic dairy products, mainly drinkable kefir. The sales trend is appealing: in fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-30, revenue was $66.9M, up from $53.9M in fiscal Q2 2025. Full-year revenue rose from $160.1M in FY2023 to $186.8M in FY2024 and $212.5M in FY2025. But profits are erratic. Fiscal Q2 2026 net income was only $127,000, or $0.01 diluted EPS, versus $4.2M, or $0.28, in fiscal Q2 2025. Fiscal Q1 2026 was better at $4.7M, or $0.30. FY2025 net income was $13.9M, or $0.89 per diluted share; FY2024 was $9.0M, or $0.60; FY2023 was $11.4M, or $0.75. FairStock calls it a FAST GROWER, with profit growing 33.8% a year over five years and revenue 15.8%, but the recent quarter contradicts that. Trailing free cash flow is -$31.1M, a -9.1% FCF yield, and FairStock's Piotroski F-Score is 2/9. At the 2026-10-13 close, FairStock calculations show P/E 32.75, P/B 4.04, Graham Number $9.32, margin of safety -142.49%, ROE 13.32%, ROCE 8.52%, D/E 0.27, and Altman Z-Score 6.02. Low debt and a staple product help, but the price is far above Graham's conservative value and earnings quality is weak. I would want sustained positive earnings and cash flow before calling this a bargain.

In plain English: Lifeway Foods makes probiotic dairy drinks, mainly kefir, and sells them in North America. Sales are growing, but profit has fallen sharply in the latest quarter, and the company used cash over the past year. At $22.60, the shares look expensive compared with its earnings and accounting value, so the stock is not an obvious bargain.

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

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-06-30) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

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