CENTCentral Garden & Pet Company
Is it safe?
Strong, no red flags: a safe balance sheet, clean books, and quality strong.
Financially healthy, low distress risk Altman Z-score, a bankruptcy-risk model from five balance-sheet ratios.
Reported earnings show no manipulation flags Beneish M-score, a forensic model that detects earnings-manipulation patterns (receivables outrunning sales, margins slipping, accrual-heavy profit).
High fundamental quality Piotroski F-score, nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year financial health across profitability, balance sheet and efficiency. 7 to 9 is strong, 0 to 3 weak.
Insiders were net sellers (-$540K, 90 days to Oct 8, 2026), selling is often routine.
Investment-grade balance sheet. A rule of thumb on leverage, not a credit rating.
Moderate price swings, typical volatility. Worst drawdown -50% · now 13% below its 52-week high.
Unless marked, from SEC EDGAR, as of Sep 27, 2025.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. Altman sits structurally low for utilities and pipelines; Beneish runs high for fast growers, since sales growth alone lifts it; banks and REITs are excluded.
Can CENT take a bad year?
Central Garden & Pet Company carries $196M of net debt at 0.59× EBITDA: a load its earnings can carry.
Net debt · as at Q3 2026 · under two and a half years of EBITDA, comfortable
- Net debt / EBITDA
- 0.59×
Net debt / EBITDA · 1.54× a year ago · the load is coming down
- Altman Z-score
- 2.78
Altman Z-score · grey zone, between 1.8 and 3
- Debt / equity
- 0.68×
Debt / equity
Details›
- Total debtQ3 2026
- $1.19B
- Cash and short-term investments
- $997M
- Net debt
- $196M
- EBITDA, trailing twelve months
- $332M
- Operating profit, trailing twelve months
- $250M
- Debt / equity
- 0.68×
- Total debt / EBITDA
- 3.60×
- Annualised volatilitytwo years of daily moves
- 31%
- Worst drawdown on file
- −50%
- Below its 52-week high
- 13%
Balance sheet from SEC filings; drawdown and volatility from end-of-day closes; Altman Z from the filed statements.