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Deep Value: cash covers more than 100% of the stock price

This company holds roughly $6M in cash and investments — more than its entire stock-market value, based on its latest quarterly filing. You're paying very little for the actual business. Sometimes that's a genuine bargain or a takeover target, sometimes it's cheap for a reason. Not a buy signal on its own — always ask why it's this cheap.

Hydrofarm Holdings Group logo

Hydrofarm Holdings Group

HYFM
15
Agricultural - Machinery · Industrials
Price
$1.02
-0.03 (-2.86%)
Market Cap
$4.9M
Exchange
NASDAQ Global Select
Winston Score
15
Winston is worried
Weak fundamentals across most pillars.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Weak
Growth
Weak
Cash Flow
Weak
Stability
Data not available
Valuation
Data not available

Share count rising — dilution

+8.6% over 4y

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

Diluted shares outstanding: 4.3M (2021) → 4.7M (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Hydrofarm Holdings Group is a distributor and manufacturer of equipment and supplies used in indoor and controlled-environment agriculture. Its products include grow lights, climate control systems, nutrients, and growing media, sold mainly to commercial cannabis growers and specialty crop farmers across North America. The company sells through wholesale distributors and directly to cultivators.

Hydrofarm earns revenue by selling hardware and consumable supplies, meaning customers buy products repeatedly as crops cycle through. It operates primarily in the United States and Canada, and its scale as one of the larger wholesale distributors in the indoor growing space gives it some purchasing leverage. However, the company has struggled badly as the legal cannabis industry faced oversupply and falling prices, crushing demand from its core customers. With a gross margin near zero and deep operating losses, the key risk is whether cannabis market conditions stabilize enough for Hydrofarm to return to profitability before its financial resources run out.

Growth Profile

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

Revenue Growth

-40.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

+38.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (4%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

26.7%ownership

Insiders own a meaningful stake in the company

Cash Runway

5+ years

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

$6M cash & investments at current burn rate

Revenue declining

Hydrofarm Holdings Group's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

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.

Each metric is explained in plain language so you know exactly what you're looking at. Start your free trial now.

Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
11.3%
Thin — 11.3% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
-32.0%
Losing money on operations — -32.0%
Return on the money invested
ROCE
-29.2%
Weak — -29.2% return on capital

Negative ROIC means the business is losing money on every dollar invested in it.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
-34.1%
Shrinking sales (-34.1% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
N/A
Data not available
How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
N/A
Data not available
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
-5.3%
Burning cash (-5.3%)

Free cash flow is negative. They are burning cash, not generating it.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
N/A
Data not available
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
N/A
Data not available

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
N/M
Negative earnings — P/E not meaningful
Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
N/A
not available
Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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