Stocks · Real Estate · REIT - Retail
Saul Centers, Inc. BFS
$29.55 -2.02% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $739.8M
High qualityInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Net debt is 8.9× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $302.2M, up 8.7% from a year earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Real Estate sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 42%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 48%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 35%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 46%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 44%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 31%
- Gross marginTop 21%
- Operating marginTop 23%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 27%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 49%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 29%
- Interest coverTop 37%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 32%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 19%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 29%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 38%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 41%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 44%
- 6-month returnBottom 33%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 48%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 43%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 23%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 20%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 32%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 43%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 20%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 12%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 31%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 29%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 29%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 8.1% | 8.7% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 3.4% | 8.3% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 72.0% | 74.2% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 38.6% | 42.7% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 40.4% | 28.7% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 8.7% | 8.1% | ↑ | Top 42% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 8.3% | 3.4% | ↑ | Bottom 48% |
| Gross margin | 74.2% | 72.0% | ↑ | Top 21% |
| Operating margin | 42.7% | 38.6% | ↑ | Top 23% |
| Net margin | 11.5% | 15.5% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 28.7% | 40.4% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 6.0% | — | Top 31% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 5.8% | — | Top 46% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.95×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -3.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.7%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +10.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 8.86×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.7×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 7.76%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -2.22%
- Shareholder yield
- 5.53%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.2%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +53.5%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.5%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $43.50
- Target vs current price
- +47.2%
- Analysts with a rating
- 7
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 43%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | +71.4% | +0.5% | +2.3% | -2.9% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +100.0% | -0.0% | -0.8% | +6.7% | +0.3% |
| Feb 27, 2026 | -44.4% | -0.2% | +1.0% | -4.3% | +1.1% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +87.0% | +0.4% | -0.5% | +0.5% | +8.9% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | -56.0% | +1.7% | +2.4% | +3.9% | -6.8% |
| May 8, 2025 | -14.7% | +0.2% | +0.3% | +4.0% | -2.5% |
| Feb 28, 2025 | -31.3% | +1.6% | -2.1% | -2.6% | -11.5% |
| Nov 7, 2024 | +11.6% | +0.1% | -1.7% | -1.4% | -9.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | $0.24 | $0.14 | +71.4% | $75.4M |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.13 | +100.0% | $76.8M |
| Feb 27, 2026 | $0.15 | $0.27 | -44.4% | $73.7M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $0.43 | $0.23 | +87.0% | $70.7M |
| Aug 7, 2025 | $0.33 | $0.75 | -56.0% | $69.4M |
| May 8, 2025 | $0.29 | $0.34 | -14.7% | $70.5M |
| Feb 28, 2025 | $0.22 | $0.32 | -31.3% | $66.6M |
| Nov 7, 2024 | $0.48 | $0.43 | +11.6% | $65.5M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 20.7× | 22.5× | 24th | Top 32% |
| P/E (forward) | 51.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 13.0× | — | — | Top 29% |
| EV / Sales | 7.74× | — | — | Top 38% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 11.74% | — | — | Top 19% |
| Earnings yield | 4.84% | — | — | Top 32% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 12.9× – 29.8× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -5.8%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +8.3%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -4.6%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -6.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -9.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -12.4%
- RSI (14)
- 23.3
- Relative volume
- 1.04×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 16.3%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 1th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.40
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.28
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -22.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -29.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 20, 2022 | Oct 5, 2026 | -46.7% | 1118 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jan 4, 2022 | Mar 1, 2022 | -16.9% | 38 days | 26 days (Apr 6, 2022) |
| Oct 12, 2020 | Nov 6, 2020 | -15.2% | 19 days | 2 days (Nov 10, 2020) |
| Dec 15, 2020 | Jan 29, 2021 | -13.5% | 30 days | 14 days (Feb 19, 2021) |
| Jun 16, 2021 | Jul 19, 2021 | -10.6% | 22 days | 74 days (Nov 1, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $739.8M
- P/E (TTM)
- 20.7
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.43
- Revenue (TTM)
- $302.2M
- Dividend yield
- 9.98%
- 52-week range
- $29.16 – $38.42
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $239.2M | $245.9M | $257.2M | $268.8M | $291.6M |
| Gross profit | $177.6M | $181.3M | $190.1M | $196.8M | $89.5M |
| Operating income | $61.6M | $65.4M | $166.6M | $121.2M | $119.6M |
| Net income | $48.4M | $50.2M | $52.7M | $50.6M | $37.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.57 | $1.63 | $1.73 | $1.63 | $1.55 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $67.3M | $67.9M | $71.9M | $70.8M | $72.0M | $75.1M | $78.3M | $76.8M |
| Net income | $14.5M | $8.1M | $9.8M | $10.7M | $10.5M | $6.5M | $9.1M | $8.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.48 | $0.22 | $0.29 | $0.33 | $0.43 | $0.50 | $0.26 | $0.24 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $118.4M | $121.2M | $117.7M | $121.2M | $99.8M |
| Capital expenditure | $0 | $19.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Free cash flow | $118.4M | $140.2M | $117.7M | $121.2M | $99.8M |
| Dividends paid | -$51.0M | -$55.5M | -$56.7M | -$56.9M | -$57.1M |
| Net share buybacks | $14.4M | $8.2M | $2.2M | $2.4M | $21.8M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $5.9M
- Total assets
- $2.16B
- Total liabilities
- $1.69B
- Total debt
- $1.60B
- Net debt
- $1.60B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $295.9M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2026 | $0.59 | Oct 30, 2026 |
| Jul 15, 2026 | $0.59 | Jul 31, 2026 |
| Apr 15, 2026 | $0.59 | Apr 30, 2026 |
| Jan 15, 2026 | $0.59 | Jan 30, 2026 |
| Oct 15, 2025 | $0.59 | Oct 31, 2025 |
| Jul 15, 2025 | $0.59 | Jul 31, 2025 |
| Apr 15, 2025 | $0.59 | Apr 30, 2025 |
| Jan 15, 2025 | $0.59 | Jan 31, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 502,575
- Days to cover
- 4.10
- Change vs previous report
- -4.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.