Alto Ingredients

ALTO

Chemicals - Specialty · Basic Materials

Price

$4.38

+0.20 (+4.78%)

Market Cap

$339.4M

Exchange

NASDAQ

Winston Score

Winston is serious

Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.

Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026

How the score breaks down

Quality

Weak

Growth

Mixed

Cash Flow

Mixed

Stability

Strong

Valuation

Good

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Share count rising — dilution

+4.8% over 4y

The company has issued more shares over this period, which dilutes each existing shareholder’s stake.

Diluted shares outstanding: 72.2M (2021) → 75.7M (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Alto Ingredients makes ethanol and other alcohol-based products at facilities across the western United States. Its main products include fuel-grade ethanol, which gets blended into gasoline, and specialty alcohols used in hand sanitizers, beverages, and industrial cleaning products. The company sells to fuel blenders, consumer goods manufacturers, and industrial customers.

Alto earns revenue by producing and selling these alcohol products, with prices largely set by commodity markets. It operates several plants primarily in California, Oregon, and Idaho, making it one of the larger western U.S. ethanol producers. The company's thin margins — around 4% gross margin — reflect how much its profitability depends on the spread between corn input costs and ethanol selling prices, both of which it has little control over. The key risk is that volatile commodity prices can quickly squeeze or eliminate profits, making consistent earnings difficult to achieve.

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+12.5% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+200.0% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (3%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

10.6%ownership

→ Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$24M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth + cash flow

Alto Ingredients is a rare growth stock that's already generating positive cash flow while growing at 12%. The Winston Score doesn't fully credit this transition from "burner" to "earner."

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Profit per sale

Gross Margin

6.8%

Thin — 6.8% gross margin

Profit after running costs

Operating Margin

3.5%

Thin — 3.5% operating margin

Return on the money invested

ROCE

11.3%

Below par — 11.3% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth

Sales YoY

+1.1%

Nearly flat sales (+1.1% YoY)

Profit growth

EPS YoY

N/A

—

Data not available

How steady the profit is

EPS Consistency

5/8 quarters

Mixed — about half the quarters showed growth

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash

Cash Conversion

69%

Modest — 69% of profit becomes cash

Spare cash per sale

FCF Margin

3.3%

Thin free cash flow (3.3%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns

Debt / Equity

0.23

Conservative — low debt load (0.23)

Covers its interest

Interest Cover

3.87x

Tight — interest eats into profit (3.9x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

Price vs profit

P/E Ratio (TTM)

6.4x

Attractive valuation — P/E 6.4

P/E under 10. The price tag is small relative to last year's profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year

P/E vs Forward

-4.4

SLOWING

Earnings expected to fall — forward P/E higher than today

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.

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