Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Grocery Stores
Ingles Markets, Incorporated IMKTA
$86.51 -0.16% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $1.65B
Strong trendInexpensive vs sectorLow risk
Next earnings report: Nov 25, 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 $5.47, up 84.2% year over year.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $5.42B, up 1.0% from a year earlier.
- Operating margin widened to 2.6% from 1.5% a year earlier.
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 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 34%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 10%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 1%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 21%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 33%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 35%
- Gross marginBottom 31%
- Operating marginBottom 30%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 27%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 44%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 24%
- Interest coverTop 45%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 23%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 28%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 8%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 7%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 25%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 24%
- 6-month returnTop 47%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 18%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 8%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 5%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 13%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 23%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 34%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 24%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -0.3% | 1.0% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 68.4% | 84.2% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 23.1% | 24.5% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 1.5% | 2.6% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 0.2% | 2.8% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 1.0% | -0.3% | ↑ | Bottom 34% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 84.2% | 68.4% | ↑ | Top 10% |
| Gross margin | 24.5% | 23.1% | ↑ | Bottom 31% |
| Operating margin | 2.6% | 1.5% | ↑ | Bottom 30% |
| Net margin | 1.9% | 1.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 2.8% | 0.2% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 4.7% | — | Bottom 35% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -2.1% | — | Bottom 21% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.40×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -5.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -0.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.26×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 7.7×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.75%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.75%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 27, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | — | -1.3% | -0.4% | -7.3% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | — | -3.0% | -3.6% | -1.4% | +3.8% |
| Feb 5, 2026 | — | +1.3% | +4.1% | +0.6% | +9.6% |
| Nov 26, 2025 | — | +0.4% | +0.8% | -7.6% | +15.4% |
| Aug 7, 2025 | — | -2.7% | +2.3% | +11.3% | +8.3% |
| May 8, 2025 | — | +0.1% | +1.2% | -0.9% | +2.5% |
| Feb 6, 2025 | — | -1.5% | -4.8% | -8.8% | -6.3% |
| Dec 27, 2024 | — | -1.4% | -3.3% | -0.1% | -4.9% |
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 | $1.36 | — | — | $1.37B |
| May 7, 2026 | $1.28 | — | — | $1.18B |
| Feb 5, 2026 | $1.48 | — | — | $1.37B |
| Nov 26, 2025 | $1.35 | — | — | $1.37B |
| Aug 7, 2025 | $1.38 | — | — | $1.35B |
| May 8, 2025 | $0.80 | — | — | $1.33B |
| Feb 6, 2025 | $0.87 | — | — | $1.29B |
| Dec 27, 2024 | -$0.08 | — | — | $1.40B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 15.8× | 7.6× | 71th | Top 23% |
| P/E (forward) | 36.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.2× | — | — | Top 8% |
| EV / Sales | 0.32× | — | — | Top 7% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 9.09% | — | — | Top 28% |
| Earnings yield | 6.32% | — | — | Top 23% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 5.3× – 20.8× since Jun 26, 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
- +23.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +84.2%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -23.6%
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
- 2
- Days above the 200-day average
- 2
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +1.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +1.9%
- RSI (14)
- 62.1
- Relative volume
- 0.83×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 23.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 30th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.26
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.16
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -9.2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -33.1%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 12, 2022 | Aug 5, 2025 | -41.0% | 662 days | Not yet recovered |
| Aug 23, 2022 | Sep 30, 2022 | -21.2% | 27 days | 42 days (Nov 30, 2022) |
| Dec 15, 2021 | Jan 21, 2022 | -16.7% | 25 days | 29 days (Mar 4, 2022) |
| Apr 19, 2022 | Jun 17, 2022 | -16.0% | 42 days | 45 days (Aug 23, 2022) |
| May 6, 2021 | Jun 29, 2021 | -13.4% | 37 days | 30 days (Aug 11, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.65B
- P/E (TTM)
- 15.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $5.47
- Revenue (TTM)
- $5.42B
- Dividend yield
- 0.95%
- 52-week range
- $67.11 – $95.62
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.99B | $5.68B | $5.89B | $5.64B | $5.33B |
| Gross profit | $1.30B | $1.42B | $1.40B | $1.30B | $1.27B |
| Operating income | $350.1M | $376.9M | $292.3M | $147.1M | $117.6M |
| Net income | $249.7M | $272.8M | $210.8M | $105.5M | $83.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $12.73 | $14.36 | $11.10 | $5.56 | $4.40 |
| Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.40B | $1.29B | $1.33B | $1.35B | $1.37B | $1.37B | $1.31B | $1.37B |
| Net income | -$1.5M | $16.6M | $15.1M | $26.2M | $25.7M | $28.1M | $24.3M | $25.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.08 | $0.87 | $0.80 | $1.38 | $1.35 | $1.48 | $1.28 | $1.36 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $306.3M | $339.5M | $266.4M | $262.5M | $154.1M |
| Capital expenditure | -$140.6M | -$119.6M | -$173.6M | -$210.9M | -$114.5M |
| Free cash flow | $165.7M | $219.9M | $92.8M | $51.7M | $39.6M |
| Dividends paid | -$12.6M | -$12.3M | -$12.3M | -$12.3M | -$12.3M |
| Net share buybacks | -$80.0M | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $455.1M
- Total assets
- $2.63B
- Total liabilities
- $948.7M
- Total debt
- $526.6M
- Net debt
- $71.5M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.68B
As of Jun 27, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2026 | $0.17 | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Jul 9, 2026 | $0.17 | Jul 16, 2026 |
| Apr 9, 2026 | $0.17 | Apr 16, 2026 |
| Jan 8, 2026 | $0.17 | Jan 15, 2026 |
| Oct 9, 2025 | $0.17 | Oct 16, 2025 |
| Jul 10, 2025 | $0.17 | Jul 17, 2025 |
| Apr 10, 2025 | $0.17 | Apr 17, 2025 |
| Jan 10, 2025 | $0.17 | Jan 16, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,142,673
- Days to cover
- 11.95
- Change vs previous report
- +4.1%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.