Central Garden & Pet Company (“Central”) is a market leader in the U.S. pet and garden industries. The company operates through two ...
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Est. EPS $2.97 · Revenue $3.01B · 4 analysts
Est. EPS $0.13 · Revenue $584.00M · 2 analysts
Est. EPS $1.34 · Revenue $871.80M · 1 analysts
Est. EPS $1.57 · Revenue $908.10M · 1 analysts
| Metric | Latest | YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength. | QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes. |
|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three). | $3.1B | -2.2% | -2.6% |
| Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day. | $162.8M | +50.8% | +13.1% |
| Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials. | +31.1% | +5.4% | +8.6% |
| Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on). | +8.5% | +46.2% | +13.2% |
| Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales. | +5.2% | +54.2% | +16.2% |
| Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock. | $291.1M | -17.2% | +624.0% |
| FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine. | +9.3% | -15.4% | +638.1% |
| Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe. | 91.0% | -0.4% | -6.1% |
| Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking. | 3.67x | +0.2% | +9.8% |
| Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground. | $3.6B | +2.0% | +1.2% |
| Metric | Annual (A vs E) | Annual Surprise | Quarter (A vs E) | Quarter Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS Surprise | 2.55 vs 2.62 | -2.8% | 1.45 vs 1.53 | -5.3% |
| Revenue Surprise | $3.1B vs $3.1B | +0.7% | $882.4M vs $883.0M | -0.1% |
| Date | Executive | Title | Security | Side | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 13, 2026 | BROWN WILLIAM E | director, 10 percent owner, officer: Chairman | Class A Common Stock | D | 3,900 | $39.00 |
| Aug 12, 2026 | PENNINGTON BROOKS III | director | Common Stock | D | 5,800 | — |
| Aug 12, 2026 | Walker John D. III | officer: President, Garden Consumer Pro | Class A Common Stock | D | 5,000 | $39.00 |
| Aug 11, 2026 | Walker John D. III | officer: President, Garden Consumer Pro | Class A Common Stock | D | 5,000 | $38.50 |
| Aug 10, 2026 | BROWN WILLIAM E | director, 10 percent owner, officer: Chairman | Class A Common Stock | A | 127,942 | $31.18 |
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Central Garden & Pet's Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Call. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator for today. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Friederike Edelmann, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Friederike Edelmann: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining Central's Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call. Joining me today are Niko Lahanas, Chief Executive Officer; Brad Smith, Chief Financial Officer; John Hanson, President, Pet Consumer Products; J.D. Walker, President, Garden Consumer Products; and last but not least, Jason Barnes, Executive Vice President, Garden Consumer Products. Niko will start by sharing today's key takeaways, followed by Brad, who will provide more details of our performance. After their prepared remarks, John, J.D., and Jason will join us for the Q&A session. Before they begin, I would like to remind everyone that all forward-looking statements made during this call are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what those forward-looking statements express or imply today. A detailed description of Central's risk factors can be found in our annual reports filed with the SEC. Please note that Central undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events, or other developments. You can find our press release and related materials at ir.central.com. Last but not least, unless otherwise specified, all comparisons discussed during this call are made against the same period in the prior year. Should any questions come up after the call or throughout the quarter, don't hesitate to contact me directly at ir@central.com. And with that, let's begin. Niko, over to you. Nicholas Lahanas: Thank you, Friederike, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll start with highlights from the second quarter and then walk through how we're thinking about the rest of the year. We delivered a record second quarter and a record first half with clear improvement across the board: higher sales, expanded operating margins, and stronger earnings per share versus last year. That performance reflects resilience across our key categories, the strength of our operating model, and the actions we've taken to sharpen execution. At the same time, we're continuing to simplify the business in ways that also strengthen our teams and execution. We've moved our DoMyOwn business into our Covington fulfillment center, which is improving speed, lowering costs, and increasing flexibility across the network. We're also consolidating the TDBBS manufacturing into our dog and cat platform in New Jersey to better leverage scale and what we believe are best-in-category capabilities. And subsequent to the quarter, we formed a joint venture with a leading …
| Name | Title | Compensation | Gender | Year Born | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nicholas Lahanas | Chief Executive Officer & Director | USD 905,740 | Male | 1969 | Active |
John Edward Hanson | President of Pet Consumer Products | USD 609,755 | Male | 1965 | Active |
John D. Walker | President of Garden Consumer Products | USD 608,929 | Male | 1958 | Active |
Howard A. Machek | Senior Vice President & Chief Accounting Officer | USD 500,396 | Male | 1963 | Active |
Brad Smith | Chief Financial Officer | USD 486,031 | Male | 1966 | Active |
William E. Brown | Founder & Chairman | USD 335,279 | Male | 1941 | Active |
Friederike Edelmann | Vice President of Investor Relations | — | Female | — | Active |
Apur Patel | Chief Legal Officer | — | Male | — | Active |
Chris Walter | Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer | — | Male | — | Active |
Marilyn Leahy | Senior Vice President of Human Resources | — | Female | — | Active |
Here at Zacks, our focus is on the proven Zacks Rank system, which emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find great stocks. Nevertheless, we are always paying attention to the latest value, growth, and momentum trends to underscore strong picks.
Central Garden & Pet offers 45% upside to a $65 base-case target, driven by discounted valuation and strategic expansion. The TRIXIE acquisition establishes CENT as a global leader, unlocking European growth and M&A opportunities at attractive multiples. Portfolio optimization and a shift to branded products have expanded margins to ~13%, with 10.3% FCF yield and robust buybacks.
Here is how Central Garden (CENT) and Gray Media (GTN) have performed compared to their sector so far this year.
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