Central Garden & Pet Co CENTA

Consumer StaplesFood & TobaccoUnited States of America

Last close 40.43 USD on Nov 2, 2026, +38.5% year to date

Quant rating

Quant rating A Rank 4 of 124 in Consumer Staples

Growth C 70 of 124
Valuation A 11 of 124
Quality B 35 of 124
Revisions A 14 of 124
Momentum A 17 of 124

Wall Street consensus Strong Buy (1.50)Average target 46.00 USD +13.8%

Historical valuation

Multiples use consensus estimates for the next twelve months. The dashed line is the 5-year average.

Key data

Market cap: 2.6B
Enterprise value: 2.8B
52-week range: 27.41 – 40.74
3-year range: 26.27 – 40.84
Dividend yield: –
Beta (5 years): 0.58
Shares outstanding: 62.6M
Next earnings: Nov 23, 2026

About the company

Central Garden & Pet Company is engaged in the pet and garden industries. The Company's segments include Pet and Garden. The Pet segment offers a range of products for dog and cat supplies, including treats and chews, toys, beds and containment, grooming items, waste management and training pads. It also provides supplies for aquatics, small animals, reptiles and pet birds, such as toys, enclosures, habitats, bedding, food and supplements, equine and livestock products, animal and household health solutions and insect control items. Its brands include Aqueon, Best Bully Sticks, Cadet, C&S, Comfort Zone, Farnam, Four Paws, and Kaytee. The Garden segment includes lawn and garden consumables such as grass seed; vegetable, flower and herb packet seed; wild bird feed, bird houses and other birding accessories; weed, grass, and other herbicides, insecticide and pesticide products; fertilizers and live plants. Its brands in this segment include 3D, Amdro, Ferry-Morse, Pennington and Sevin.

Growth and profitability

Growth and profitability by fiscal year
	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	5Y avg
Revenue (mil)	3,129	3,200	3,310	3,339	3,304	–
Revenue growth	−2.2%	−3.3%	−0.9%	1.1%	22.6%	3.0%
EPS (basic, normalized)	2.73	2.13	1.88	2.24	2.34	–
EPS growth	28.2%	13.3%	−16.1%	−4.1%	–	–
Gross margin	32.1%	30.0%	28.9%	29.7%	29.4%	30.0%
Net margin	5.2%	3.4%	3.8%	4.6%	4.6%	4.3%
ROE	10.4%	7.2%	9.0%	11.9%	13.2%	10.3%

Balance sheet, last quarter
Cash & short-term investments (mil)	997
Current ratio	3.79x
Long-term debt (mil)	1,193
Net debt (mil)	198
Total equity (mil)	1,746
Net debt / equity	0.11x
Net debt / EBITDA	0.53x

Estimates and valuation

Consensus estimates and implied multiples
	Sales (mil)			EBITDA (mil)			EPS
Fiscal year	Mean est.	Growth	EV/Sales	Mean est.	Growth	EV/EBITDA	Mean est.	Growth	P/E
2025 actual	3,129	−2.2%	0.9x	371	+11.3%	7.6x	2.73	+28.2%	14.8x
2026	2,995	−4.3%	0.9x	373	+0.6%	7.5x	2.97	+8.7%	13.6x
2027	2,921	−2.5%	1.0x	388	+4.0%	7.2x	3.12	+5.1%	13.0x
2028	3,205	+9.7%	0.9x	370	−4.7%	7.6x	3.08	−1.2%	13.1x

Estimate revisions

Change in consensus estimates over 1, 3 and 6 months
	Sales				EPS
Fiscal year	Estimate (mil)	1M	3M	6M	Estimate	1M	3M	6M
2026	2,995	0.0%	+0.7%	−4.0%	2.97	0.0%	+1.0%	+3.6%
2027	2,921	+0.9%	+2.3%	−7.8%	3.12	+0.8%	+2.4%	+5.1%
2028	3,205	0.0%	+6.5%	−1.0%	3.08	0.0%	+7.3%	+4.4%

Earnings surprises EPS beat in 4 of the last 4 quarters

Reported results versus consensus, last 10 fiscal quarters
Quarter ended	Mar 2024	Jun 2024	Sep 2024	Dec 2024	Mar 2025	Jun 2025	Sep 2025	Dec 2025	Mar 2026	Jun 2026
Sales reported (mil)	900	996	669	656	834	961	678	617	906	882
Sales mean (mil)	883	1,002	704	625	877	987	658	628	839	885
Surprise	+1.9%	−0.5%	−4.8%	+5.0%	−5.0%	−2.6%	+3.1%	−1.7%	+8.1%	−0.3%
EPS reported	0.99	1.32	−0.18	0.21	1.04	1.56	−0.09	0.21	1.29	1.54
EPS mean	0.76	1.20	−0.22	−0.03	0.92	1.44	−0.20	0.13	1.08	1.50
Surprise	+29.9%	+10.4%	+18.2%	−800.0%	+13.3%	+8.6%	+55.4%	+58.5%	+19.2%	+2.8%

Peer comparison Food & Tobacco

Peers in the same industry group, by market capitalization
Company	Market cap	Net debt/EBITDA	Net margin	P/B	FY1 P/E	FY2 P/E	FY1 EV/EBITDA	FY2 EV/EBITDA
CENTA Central Garden & Pet Co	2.6B	0.53x	5.2%	1.69x	13.6x	13.0x	7.5x	7.2x
ZIVO Zivo Bioscience Inc	34M	−0.04x	−8,513.4%	−9.47x	–	–	–	–
NUVM NuVim Inc	1M	−0.10x	−222.3%	–	–	–	–	–
NXTH NXT Nutritionals Holdings Inc	0M	–	−930.2%	–	–	–	–	–
EWLU Merion Inc	0M	–	−80.8%	–	–	–	–	–
IAGX Imagenetix, Inc.	0M	–	−2.6%	–	–	–	–	–
Mean		0.13x	−1,624.0%	−3.89x	13.6x	13.0x	7.5x	7.2x
Median		−0.04x	−151.5%	−3.89x	13.6x	13.0x	7.5x	7.2x

Technical analysis

1M+17.9%
3M+6.6%
1Y+45.4%
3Y+26.0%

Financial statements in millions of USD

Income statement in millions of USD, fiscal years

Income statement, Central Garden & Pet Co, fiscal years, most recent first
	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Total revenue	3,129	3,200	3,310	3,339	3,304	2,696
Cost of revenue	2,126	2,240	2,353	2,346	2,333	1,899
Gross profit	1,003	960	957	992	971	797
Selling, general & administrative expenses	710	707	688	697	697	585
Research & development	–	–	–	–	–	–
Depreciation/amortization	27.0	34.1	34.5	35.1	16.5	14.0
Interest expense (income), operating	–	–	–	–	–	–
Unusual expense (income)	16.0	41.0	23.2	0	12.6	3.6
Other operating expenses	0	0	0	0	0	0
Operating income	250	178	211	260	245	194
Net interest income (expense)	−32.8	−37.9	−49.7	−57.5	−48.2	−40.0
Gain (loss) on sale of assets	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other non-operating income (expense)	−0.5	2.4	1.5	−3.6	−1.5	−0.7
Net income before taxes	217	142	162	199	195	154
Provision for taxes	52.8	33.1	36.3	46.2	42.0	32.2
Minority interest	−1.1	−1.3	−0.5	−0.5	−1.0	−0.8
Equity in affiliates	–	–	–	–	–	–
U.S. GAAP adjustment	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net income before extraordinary items	163	108	126	152	152	121
Extraordinary items	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net income	163	108	126	152	152	121
EBIT, normalized	266	219	234	260	257	198
EBITDA, normalized	351	310	322	341	332	253
Basic EPS, normalized	2.73	2.13	1.88	2.24	2.34	–

Balance sheet in millions of USD, fiscal years

Balance sheet, Central Garden & Pet Co, fiscal years, most recent first
	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Assets
Cash & short-term investments	882	754	489	177	426	653
Receivables	325	326	333	377	385	392
Total inventory	722	758	838	938	685	440
Prepaid expenses	30.3	34.2	33.2	46.9	33.5	27.5
Other current assets	15.9	14.9	14.1	14.7	13.1	13.7
Total current assets	1,976	1,887	1,707	1,554	1,544	1,525
Property, plant & equipment	586	584	565	583	494	361
Goodwill	555	551	546	546	369	290
Intangibles	448	473	497	543	134	135
Long-term investments	–	–	–	–	–	–
Note receivable	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other long-term assets	61.1	57.7	62.6	55.2	575	28.7
Total assets	3,626	3,553	3,379	3,282	3,117	2,339
Liabilities
Accounts payable	235	213	191	216	246	205
Payable/accrued	–	–	–	–	–	–
Accrued expenses	304	303	267	250	276	235
Short-term debt	0	0	0	0	0	0
Current portion of long-term debt	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	1.1	0.1
Other current liabilities	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total current liabilities	539	515	458	466	522	440
Long-term debt	1,192	1,190	1,188	1,186	1,185	694
Minority interest	1.7	1.9	1.5	1.0	1.3	0.9
Other liabilities	310	291	280	295	186	127
Total liabilities	2,042	1,998	1,927	1,948	1,894	1,263
Shareholders' equity
Preferred stock	–	–	–	–	–	–
Common stock	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5
Additional paid-in capital	571	598	594	582	576	567
Retained earnings (accumulated deficit)	1,015	960	859	755	646	511
Treasury stock	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other equity	−3.8	−2.6	−3.0	−4.1	−0.8	−1.4
Total equity	1,583	1,556	1,451	1,334	1,222	1,077
Total liabilities & shareholders' equity	3,626	3,553	3,379	3,282	3,117	2,339

Cash flow statement in millions of USD, fiscal years

Cash flow statement, Central Garden & Pet Co, fiscal years, most recent first
	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Operating activities
Net income	164	109	126	153	153	122
Depreciation, depletion & amortization	84.9	90.8	87.7	80.9	74.7	55.4
Deferred taxes	−2.1	−14.5	−12.3	28.1	−14.7	−6.6
Non-cash items	96.6	128	92.6	76.7	82.0	65.3
Changes in working capital	−10.9	80.8	87.5	−372	−43.9	28.7
Cash from operations	333	395	382	−34.0	251	264
Investing activities
Capital expenditures	−41.4	−43.1	−54.0	−115	−80.3	−43.1
Other investing cash flows	−3.5	−62.1	19.4	−27.8	−819	−5.1
Cash from investing	−44.9	−105	−34.6	−143	−899	−48.1
Financing activities
Financing cash flow items	−1.3	−1.0	−0.1	−3.4	−21.2	−1.3
Cash dividends paid	–	–	–	–	–	–
Issuance (retirement) of debt, net	–	–	–	–	–	–
Other financing cash flows	−155	−24.4	−37.5	−63.4	442	−59.2
Cash from financing	−157	−25.4	−37.6	−66.8	420	−60.6
Foreign exchange effects	−0.9	1.3	1.2	−3.5	1.2	0.1
Net change in cash	130	266	311	−247	−227	156
Free cash flow	291	352	328	−149	171	221

Disclaimer

The financial data presented in this report is delayed and obtained from sources QDD Research believes to be reliable, including stock exchanges, SEDAR, and EDGAR. However, no representation or warranty is made as to the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the information. QDD Research accepts no liability for any errors, omissions, or financial losses arising from the use of this data.

This report is generated using a fully systematic and quantitative approach. All factor scores and the overall quant rating (ranging from D to A+) are derived from algorithmic models and are based solely on objective financial metrics. These scores are intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any securities.

QDD Research is not a registered investment advisor or broker-dealer and does not provide personalized financial advice. The content is not tailored to the specific investment goals, financial situation, or risk profile of any individual investor. We strongly encourage readers to consult with a licensed broker or investment advisor before making any investment decisions based on the information contained in this report.

Live quote provided by TradingView. Report data updated Nov 2, 2026 after market close.