Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Packaged Foods
Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. LW
$43.60 +5.88% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $5.99B
Next earnings report: Oct 6, 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
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 6 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +24.2%).
- Net debt is 4.0× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- Over the past year the stock returned -29.7%, behind the S&P 500 by 44.8 percentage points.
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.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 44%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 37%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 29%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 49%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 49%
- Gross marginBottom 25%
- Operating marginTop 37%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 26%
- Interest coverBottom 36%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 37%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 32%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 36%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 47%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 35%
- 6-month returnTop 22%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 29%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 36%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 44%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 23%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 18%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 27%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 47%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 40%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 29%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 43%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 26%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 2.0% | 2.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -16.1% | -17.1% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 21.7% | 20.6% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 10.3% | 8.9% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 2.5% | 2.0% | ↑ | Bottom 44% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -17.1% | -16.1% | ↓ | Bottom 37% |
| Gross margin | 20.6% | 21.7% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| Operating margin | 8.9% | 10.3% | ↓ | Top 37% |
| Net margin | 4.4% | 5.5% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 6.5% | — | Bottom 49% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 7.3% | — | Top 29% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -2.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.95×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 3.3×
Shareholder returns
- Share count change, 1 year
- -2.1%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -2.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through May 31, 2026 (filed Jul 24, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 6
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +24.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.9%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $53.14
- Target vs current price
- +21.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 19
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 32%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | +39.0% | +0.8% | +8.9% | +8.7% | — |
| Apr 1, 2026 | +15.0% | -8.9% | -1.6% | +1.8% | +6.9% |
| Dec 19, 2025 | +7.1% | -25.9% | -29.0% | -26.7% | -30.1% |
| Sep 30, 2025 | +35.8% | +4.3% | +13.9% | +19.6% | -24.9% |
| Jul 23, 2025 | +38.3% | +16.3% | +20.9% | +12.1% | +30.1% |
| Apr 3, 2025 | +26.4% | +10.0% | +2.0% | -3.8% | -4.2% |
| Dec 19, 2024 | -37.1% | -20.1% | -16.5% | -19.8% | -32.7% |
| Oct 1, 2024 | +1.5% | +0.3% | +6.9% | +19.9% | -1.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | $0.87 | $0.63 | +39.0% | $1.77B |
| Apr 1, 2026 | $0.72 | $0.63 | +15.0% | $1.56B |
| Dec 19, 2025 | $0.69 | $0.64 | +7.1% | $1.62B |
| Sep 30, 2025 | $0.74 | $0.55 | +35.8% | $1.66B |
| Jul 23, 2025 | $0.87 | $0.63 | +38.3% | $1.68B |
| Apr 3, 2025 | $1.10 | $0.87 | +26.4% | $1.52B |
| Dec 19, 2024 | $0.66 | $1.05 | -37.1% | $1.60B |
| Oct 1, 2024 | $0.73 | $0.72 | +1.5% | $1.65B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 21.0× | 23.8× | 38th | Top 37% |
| P/E (forward) | 14.5× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.1× | — | — | Top 32% |
| EV / Sales | 1.49× | — | — | Bottom 36% |
| Earnings yield | 4.77% | — | — | Top 37% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 10.9× – 56.3× since May 31, 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
- -29.7%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -17.1%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +4.7%
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)
- -0.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -13.3%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -4.9%
- RSI (14)
- 36.3
- Relative volume
- 2.63×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 32.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 50th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.36
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.12
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -34.5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -65.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 2023 | Apr 1, 2026 | -66.6% | 689 days | Not yet recovered |
| Mar 5, 2021 | Mar 14, 2022 | -41.8% | 258 days | 160 days (Oct 31, 2022) |
| Oct 8, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -14.8% | 14 days | 8 days (Nov 9, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $5.99B
- P/E (TTM)
- 21.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.08
- Revenue (TTM)
- $6.61B
- Dividend yield
- 3.46%
- 52-week range
- $37.62 – $67.07
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.10B | $5.35B | $6.47B | $6.45B | $6.61B |
| Gross profit | $832.0M | $1.43B | $1.77B | $1.40B | $1.36B |
| Operating income | $444.4M | $882.1M | $1.07B | $665.1M | $591.1M |
| Net income | $200.9M | $1.01B | $725.5M | $357.2M | $290.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.38 | $6.95 | $4.98 | $2.50 | $2.08 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.65B | $1.60B | $1.52B | $1.68B | $1.66B | $1.62B | $1.56B | $1.77B |
| Net income | $127.4M | -$36.1M | $146.0M | $119.9M | $64.3M | $62.1M | $54.0M | $109.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.88 | -$0.25 | $1.03 | $0.85 | $0.46 | $0.44 | $0.39 | $0.79 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $418.6M | $761.7M | $798.2M | $868.3M | $1.04B |
| Capital expenditure | -$290.1M | -$654.0M | -$929.5M | -$638.2M | -$402.7M |
| Free cash flow | $128.5M | $107.7M | -$131.3M | $230.1M | $636.8M |
| Dividends paid | -$138.4M | -$146.1M | -$174.0M | -$206.9M | -$207.5M |
| Net share buybacks | -$158.4M | -$51.6M | -$225.3M | -$294.4M | -$122.8M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $68.2M
- Total assets
- $7.38B
- Total liabilities
- $5.56B
- Total debt
- $3.94B
- Net debt
- $3.87B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.82B
As of May 31, 2026 (filed Jul 24, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 7, 2026 | $0.38 | Sep 4, 2026 |
| May 8, 2026 | $0.38 | Jun 5, 2026 |
| Jan 30, 2026 | $0.38 | Feb 27, 2026 |
| Oct 31, 2025 | $0.37 | Nov 28, 2025 |
| Aug 1, 2025 | $0.37 | Aug 29, 2025 |
| May 2, 2025 | $0.37 | May 30, 2025 |
| Jan 31, 2025 | $0.37 | Feb 28, 2025 |
| Nov 1, 2024 | $0.36 | Nov 29, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 6,659,809
- Days to cover
- 5.08
- Change vs previous report
- +5.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.