CENTCentral Garden & Pet Company

$44.18

Is the business good?

How good a business is CENT?

Central Garden & Pet Company earns 9.3% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.

9.3%

Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 0.35 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value

Operating margin
8.2%

Operating margin · Packaged Foods median 8.2% · 12 months to Q2 2026

Cash conversion
1.65×

Cash conversion · 2.70× a year ago · every dollar of reported profit arrived as cash, and more

Share count, year on year
−4.6%

Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company

Operating margin by fiscal year
YearOperating margin
FY20207.3%
FY20217.7%
FY20227.8%
FY20236.4%
FY20245.8%
FY20258.0%
Details
Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
32%
Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
8.2%
Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
5.4%
Free cash flow margin
8.9%
Revenue, trailing twelve months
$3.16B
Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
$282M
Net income, trailing twelve months
$171M
Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
9.3%

Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.