Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Packaged Foods
Flowers Foods, Inc. FLO
$5.57 +0.18% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.18B
Weak trendInexpensive 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
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $0.26, down 75.0% year over year.
- Over the past year the stock returned -57.4%, behind the S&P 500 by 72.5 percentage points.
- Net debt is 6.8× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Defensive sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth21Very weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 43%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 18%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 31%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 48%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 27%
Quality55Neutral
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 40%
- Gross marginTop 26%
- Operating marginBottom 46%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 23%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 12%
- Interest coverBottom 38%
Value89Strong
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 38%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 4%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 39%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 19%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 41%
Momentum6Very weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 6%
- 6-month returnBottom 8%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 6%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 11%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 22%
Revisions23Very weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 47%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 15%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 25%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 44%
Stability23Very weak
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 49%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 13%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 48%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 12%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 3.8% | 2.5% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -67.6% | -75.0% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 49.4% | 47.9% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 6.5% | 5.5% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 7.5% | 6.0% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 2.5% | 3.8% | ↓ | Bottom 43% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -75.0% | -67.6% | ↓ | Bottom 18% |
| Gross margin | 47.9% | 49.4% | ↓ | Top 26% |
| Operating margin | 5.5% | 6.5% | ↓ | Bottom 46% |
| Net margin | 1.1% | 4.3% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 6.0% | 7.5% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 5.4% | — | Bottom 40% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 3.0% | — | Top 48% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -9.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -4.2 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 6.83×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 3.7×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 15.71%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.32%
- Shareholder yield
- 16.04%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.1%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 18, 2026 (filed Aug 20, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +9.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.8%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $7.00
- Target vs current price
- +25.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 20
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 30%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 20, 2026 | -6.5% | -4.8% | -3.9% | -18.4% | — |
| May 21, 2026 | +8.2% | -3.2% | +6.4% | +7.5% | +1.0% |
| Feb 12, 2026 | +37.5% | -2.9% | -15.5% | -26.2% | -27.8% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +0.0% | -3.7% | -4.9% | -11.7% | -7.4% |
| Aug 15, 2025 | +3.4% | -5.4% | -6.6% | -17.1% | -28.4% |
| May 16, 2025 | -7.9% | +1.4% | -2.8% | -6.4% | -3.6% |
| Feb 7, 2025 | +0.0% | -1.3% | -2.8% | +0.3% | -9.8% |
| Nov 8, 2024 | +13.8% | -2.7% | -0.9% | -0.4% | -12.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 20, 2026 | $0.21 | $0.22 | -6.5% | $1.19B |
| May 21, 2026 | $0.29 | $0.27 | +8.2% | $1.57B |
| Feb 12, 2026 | $0.22 | $0.16 | +37.5% | $1.23B |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $0.23 | $0.23 | +0.0% | $1.23B |
| Aug 15, 2025 | $0.30 | $0.29 | +3.4% | $1.24B |
| May 16, 2025 | $0.35 | $0.38 | -7.9% | $1.55B |
| Feb 7, 2025 | $0.22 | $0.22 | +0.0% | $1.11B |
| Nov 8, 2024 | $0.33 | $0.29 | +13.8% | $1.19B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 21.4× | 25.1× | 33th | Top 38% |
| P/E (forward) | 7.1× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 11.0× | — | — | Top 39% |
| EV / Sales | 0.60× | — | — | Top 19% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 26.75% | — | — | Top 4% |
| Earnings yield | 4.67% | — | — | Top 38% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 12.7× – 43.2× since Jul 17, 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
- -57.4%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -75.0%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +81.0%
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)
- -12.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -5.4%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -16.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -34.4%
- RSI (14)
- 24.3
- Relative volume
- 0.73×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 35.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 88th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.40
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.20
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -57.7%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -78.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 5, 2022 | Sep 30, 2026 | -81.6% | 957 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jan 14, 2022 | Mar 11, 2022 | -16.3% | 38 days | 169 days (Nov 10, 2022) |
| Oct 12, 2020 | Feb 26, 2021 | -12.9% | 94 days | 66 days (Jun 2, 2021) |
| Jun 3, 2021 | Aug 4, 2021 | -10.8% | 43 days | 64 days (Nov 3, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.18B
- P/E (TTM)
- 21.4
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.26
- Revenue (TTM)
- $5.22B
- Dividend yield
- 13.38%
- 52-week range
- $5.40 – $13.28
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.33B | $4.81B | $5.09B | $5.10B | $5.26B |
| Gross profit | $2.16B | $2.30B | $2.46B | $2.53B | $2.57B |
| Operating income | $294.9M | $303.2M | $172.9M | $348.3M | $326.1M |
| Net income | $206.2M | $228.4M | $123.4M | $248.1M | $83.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.97 | $1.07 | $0.58 | $1.17 | $0.40 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.19B | $1.11B | $1.55B | $1.24B | $1.23B | $1.23B | $1.57B | $1.19B |
| Net income | $65.0M | $43.1M | $53.0M | $58.4M | $39.5M | -$67.1M | $42.1M | $40.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.31 | $0.20 | $0.25 | $0.28 | $0.19 | -$0.32 | $0.20 | $0.19 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $344.6M | $360.9M | $349.4M | $412.7M | $446.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$210.9M | -$169.1M | -$129.1M | -$132.1M | -$127.1M |
| Free cash flow | $133.8M | $191.8M | $220.3M | $280.6M | $319.1M |
| Dividends paid | -$175.9M | -$186.5M | -$195.2M | -$203.0M | -$209.3M |
| Net share buybacks | -$9.5M | -$34.6M | -$45.8M | -$22.7M | -$5.5M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $52.8M
- Total assets
- $4.19B
- Total liabilities
- $2.86B
- Total debt
- $2.01B
- Net debt
- $1.96B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.32B
As of Jul 18, 2026 (filed Aug 20, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 11, 2026 | $0.13 | Sep 25, 2026 |
| Jun 12, 2026 | $0.13 | Jun 26, 2026 |
| Mar 6, 2026 | $0.25 | Mar 20, 2026 |
| Nov 28, 2025 | $0.25 | Dec 12, 2025 |
| Sep 5, 2025 | $0.25 | Sep 19, 2025 |
| Jun 5, 2025 | $0.25 | Jun 19, 2025 |
| Feb 28, 2025 | $0.24 | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Nov 29, 2024 | $0.24 | Dec 13, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 46,488,528
- Days to cover
- 5.64
- Change vs previous report
- +3.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 20, 2013
- 3-for-2
- Jun 27, 2011
- 3-for-2
- Jul 2, 2007
- 3-for-2
- Jul 5, 2005
- 3-for-2
- Jun 30, 2003
- 3-for-2