NGVCNatural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.
Is the business good?
A genuinely good business: earnings fully cash-backed (1.4×) and margins widening.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
Efficiency-driven, thin margins turned over fast (the retail model). ROE 21% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is NGVC?
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. earns 22% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 13 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 4.7%
Operating margin · Grocery Stores median 1.8% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.42×
Cash conversion · 1.38× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- −0.21%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 2.7% |
| FY2021 | 2.7% |
| FY2022 | 2.8% |
| FY2023 | 2.8% |
| FY2024 | 3.8% |
| FY2025 | 4.7% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 30%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 4.7%
- Net margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 3.5%
- Free cash flow margin
- 1.7%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.34B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $23M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $48M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 22%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.