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Central Garden & Pet Company

CENT
54
Household & Personal Products · Consumer Defensive
Exchange
NASDAQ
Winston Score
54
Winston is curious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 27, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Mixed
Growth
Good
Cash Flow
Strong
Stability
Good
Valuation
Good

Winston Score History

The full picture

Central Garden & Pet makes products for two main areas of everyday life: gardens and pets. On the garden side, it sells fertilizers, grass seed, pest control sprays, and outdoor décor under brands like Pennington and Amdro. On the pet side, it makes food, toys, bedding, and supplies for dogs, cats, birds, fish, and small animals under brands like Nylabone, Kaytee, and Four Paws. Its customers are mostly large retailers like Walmart, Home Depot, and Petco.

The company earns money by selling physical products through retail stores and online channels, almost entirely within the United States. With dozens of owned brands across two large consumer categories, Central Garden & Pet has built a broad portfolio that gives it shelf space across many retail chains — that breadth is its main competitive advantage. The biggest risk is that both its garden and pet segments are sensitive to consumer spending pullbacks, and rising input costs like raw materials and packaging can squeeze its already modest profit margins.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
35.9%
Modest — 35.9% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
14.3%
Healthy — 14.3% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
8.5%
Below par — 8.5% 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
-1.2%
Shrinking sales (-1.2% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
+365.5%
Earnings growing fast (+365.5% YoY)

Earnings growing 25%+ a year. The compounder zone.

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
163%
Turns 163% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
6.6%
Modest free cash flow (6.6%)

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
0.68
Moderate — manageable debt (0.68)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
4.37x
Adequate interest coverage (4.4x)

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

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
16.4x
no trend
Fair value — P/E 16.4

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+2.0
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow — slightly cheaper on forward P/E

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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