News · US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD) · Consumer Defensive

US Foods falls 4.2% as Q2 earnings surge coincides with sector weakness

Session of November 3, 2026 · Published November 4, 2026 · 3 min read

What happened

US Foods (USFD) fell 4.2% on November 3, 2026, after the company reported a 21% jump in Q2 earnings and the Consumer Defensive sector weakened while the S&P 500 rose. Trading volume was 1.6 times its 20-day average, and the stock opened 1.1% below the previous close. The broader market diverged: the S&P 500 rose 0.4% while the Consumer Defensive sector median fell 1.7%, leaving the stock 2.5 percentage points worse than the sector median.

Closing price over the last 30 trading sessions. On November 3, 2026, USFD closed at $101.36, down 4.2% on the day and 7.9% higher than 30 sessions earlier.

How big was the move

The stock’s decline was 2.6 times a typical daily move for this stock, making it a large relative move compared with recent volatility. Over the last five sessions the stock fell 1.2%, while the S&P 500 fell 2.0% over the same period, highlighting that US Foods outperformed the market over the week despite the single-session drop. The company’s market value stood at $22.41 billion. The session's size sits among 19 similar down days in the past five years; twenty trading days after those sessions the median result was a gain of 1.0%, with 10 of 19 higher, suggesting mixed historical follow-through. The stock has a beta of 0.50, indicating it tends to move less than the market, which may have moderated its reaction to wider market moves.

Each bar is one day's price change; the outlined bar is November 3, 2026. A typical daily move over the past year was 1.9%, so the latest move equals 2.2 times that. Moves outside the dashed lines (about 3.8%) are unusual.

The technical picture

The stock traded above its short- and long-term averages: it was 0.5% above its 20-day moving average, 2.1% above its 50-day average and 7.0% above its 200-day average. The 50-day average is above the 200-day average, a sign of an established uptrend, and the stock has been above the 200-day average for 105 consecutive trading days. The Relative Strength Index over 14 days was 52, in the neutral range between 30 and 70. Over one month the stock rose 7.1% and over three months it rose 0.9%; over one year it rose 39.6%, which is 28.9 percentage points ahead of the S&P 500. The stock sat 9.0% below its 52-week high, and sixty-day annualized volatility was 26%, lower than 56% of its own readings over five years. Taken together, those measures show an extended, steady uptrend with moderate near-term momentum rather than overheating.

Closing price over the past year. USFD ends the period 8.6% below its 52-week high, above its 50-day average ($99.26) and above its 200-day average ($94.70).

Fundamentals and valuation

For the four quarters through June 27, 2026, US Foods reported revenue of $40.13 billion, up 3.8% from a year earlier, and diluted earnings per share of $3.25, a rise of 38.9% year over year. Gross margin was 17.6% versus 17.4% a year earlier, and operating margin was 3.2% versus 3.1% a year earlier. Free-cash-flow margin stood at 2.4% and return on invested capital was 9.2%. The balance sheet showed net debt of 3.0 times EBITDA, and share count decreased by 5.6% over the year. The stock traded at 31.2 times trailing earnings and 21.2 times price to forward earnings, with a free-cash-flow yield of 4.2%. Its price-to-earnings reading was lower than 57% of its own readings over the past five years, against a five-year median of 32.9 times earnings, suggesting valuation was above long-run median levels even as profitability improved.

Quarterly revenue by period end. The latest quarter brought $10.5B, 4.5% more than the same quarter a year earlier.

Earnings and analyst expectations

Zacks Investment Research reported that US Foods’ Q2 results showed a 21% increase in earnings, driven by higher demand from independent restaurants and wider margins, and that the company reaffirmed its fiscal 2026 growth outlook. The company last reported on August 6, 2026, when earnings per share were $1.44 against $1.36 expected, 5.9% above estimates, marking one consecutive quarter beating estimates. The average surprise over the last four reports was 2.3% above estimates, and the typical two-day reaction after recent reports has been a rise of 1.5%. US Foods was due to report next on November 5, 2026. Against that backdrop, the market appeared to weigh sector weakness and valuation more heavily than the latest earnings beat in the session described.

Diluted earnings per share by quarter. The latest quarter shows $1.24, against $0.96 in the same quarter a year earlier.

What to watch

November 5, 2026: next earnings report date.
Consensus price target $117.67, 16.1% above the closing price.
Analysts covering the stock: 26, with 73% rating the stock Buy or Strong Buy and a consensus rating of Buy.
Valuation metrics: 31.2 times trailing earnings and 21.2 times price to forward earnings.
PromtFinance scores: Momentum 91, Growth 66, Value 52, Quality 27, Revisions 50, Stability 62.

Full USFD analysis: scores, chart and financials →