Suburban Propane Partners L.P. Common Stock (SPH)

FairStock Score: 73/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

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

I look for an understandable business bought at a sensible price with a margin of safety. Suburban Propane is understandable: it distributes propane and fuel oil to homes and businesses, and demand is somewhat essential. The moat is not wide. It comes from local distribution density, customer relationships, and the inconvenience of switching suppliers, but propane remains a commodity and weather drives volumes. The filed numbers show seasonality: in fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2026-03-28, revenue was $551.2M, net income $137.5M, and diluted EPS $2.06; in fiscal Q3 2026, the quarter ended 2026-06-27, revenue was $261.4M and net income was -$17.5M, or -$0.26 per diluted unit. For fiscal year 2025, the year ended 2025-09-27, revenue was $1.4B, net income $106.6M, and diluted EPS $1.62. Fiscal year 2024, the year ended 2024-09-28, had $1.3B revenue, $74.2M net income, and $1.14 EPS, while fiscal year 2023, the year ended 2023-09-30, had $1.4B revenue, $123.8M net income, and $1.92 EPS. That is not a smooth growth record. At the 2026-10-13 close of $17.27, FairStock calculates a P/E of 8.95, P/B of 1.62, dividend yield of 7.76%, and FCF yield of 8.8% on trailing free cash flow of $101.3M. The Graham Number is $21.55, giving roughly a 19.9% margin of safety by that conservative measure. But debt is high at D/E 1.86, ROCE is only 5.64%, and the Piotroski F-Score of 2/9 and Altman Z-Score of 0.51 warn about financial fragility. FairStock's computed Lynch category is STALWART, based on 5-year profit growth of 11.9% and revenue growth of 5.3%, but the filed record is uneven. I would call this a narrow-moat, income-oriented partnership with a cheap-looking price and a leveraged, seasonal business.

In plain English: Suburban Propane sells and delivers propane and related fuels to homes and businesses. The business is seasonal: in the March 2026 quarter it earned $137.5 million, but in the June 2026 quarter it lost $17.5 million. The stock looks somewhat cheaper than its earnings and assets suggest, but the company has a lot of debt and weak recent financial-strength signals.

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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