Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Packaged Foods
The Marzetti Company MZTI
$99.49 -0.04% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $2.73B
High qualityWeak trendInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 29, 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
- At 14.3× trailing earnings, the shares trade at the lowest P/E of the company's past five years.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Over the past year the stock returned -41.7%, behind the S&P 500 by 57.5 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 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 35%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 33%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 32%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 44%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 23%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 10%
- Gross marginBottom 31%
- Operating marginTop 29%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 37%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 38%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 15%
- Interest coverTop 6%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 16%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 38%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 30%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 44%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 5%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 14%
- 6-month returnBottom 12%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 15%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 21%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 22%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 22%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 38%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 12%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 39%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 40%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 49%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 27%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 15%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 2.8% | 1.1% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 3.9% | 15.0% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 23.9% | 24.7% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 11.5% | 12.4% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 12.9% | 10.7% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 1.1% | 2.8% | ↓ | Bottom 35% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 15.0% | 3.9% | ↑ | Top 33% |
| Gross margin | 24.7% | 23.9% | ↑ | Bottom 31% |
| Operating margin | 12.4% | 11.5% | ↑ | Top 29% |
| Net margin | 9.9% | 8.8% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 10.7% | 12.9% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 17.2% | — | Top 10% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 1.9% | — | Bottom 44% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.48×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -7.2%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -4.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.40×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 135.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 3.98%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.33%
- Shareholder yield
- 5.31%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.2%
- 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 Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 25, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 3 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -0.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $135.00
- Target vs current price
- +35.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 13
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 23%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 25, 2026 | +4.3% | +1.4% | -2.7% | -10.5% | — |
| May 4, 2026 | -6.4% | -6.6% | -8.6% | -11.8% | -10.6% |
| Feb 3, 2026 | -1.3% | -7.7% | -11.2% | -4.4% | -26.1% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | +2.4% | +9.4% | +9.0% | +3.9% | +8.4% |
| Aug 21, 2025 | -1.5% | -0.2% | +1.9% | +1.6% | -2.9% |
| Apr 30, 2025 | -4.3% | -15.6% | -16.3% | -14.6% | -6.3% |
| Feb 4, 2025 | +15.0% | +8.7% | +12.1% | +14.9% | -2.2% |
| Oct 31, 2024 | -2.4% | -6.2% | +8.3% | +0.6% | -8.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 25, 2026 | $1.46 | $1.40 | +4.3% | $465.0M |
| May 4, 2026 | $1.47 | $1.57 | -6.4% | $453.4M |
| Feb 3, 2026 | $2.20 | $2.23 | -1.3% | $518.0M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $1.74 | $1.70 | +2.4% | $493.5M |
| Aug 21, 2025 | $1.33 | $1.35 | -1.5% | $475.4M |
| Apr 30, 2025 | $1.54 | $1.61 | -4.3% | $457.8M |
| Feb 4, 2025 | $2.22 | $1.93 | +15.0% | $509.3M |
| Oct 31, 2024 | $1.62 | $1.66 | -2.4% | $466.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 14.3× | 33.9× | 0th | Top 16% |
| P/E (forward) | 14.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.0× | — | — | Top 30% |
| EV / Sales | 1.36× | — | — | Bottom 44% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 7.55% | — | — | Top 38% |
| Earnings yield | 7.02% | — | — | Top 16% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 16.8× – 55.6× 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
- -41.7%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +15.0%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -42.6%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
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)
- -3.6%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -4.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -7.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -23.8%
- RSI (14)
- 37.5
- Relative volume
- 0.98×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 32.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 73th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.23
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.11
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -42.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -52.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 2023 | Sep 30, 2026 | -54.7% | 853 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jul 16, 2021 | Jun 9, 2022 | -40.7% | 227 days | 103 days (Nov 4, 2022) |
| Nov 21, 2022 | Feb 7, 2023 | -11.7% | 52 days | 55 days (Apr 27, 2023) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.73B
- P/E (TTM)
- 14.3
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $6.98
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.93B
- Dividend yield
- 4.02%
- 52-week range
- $97.00 – $176.26
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.68B | $1.82B | $1.87B | $1.91B | $1.93B |
| Gross profit | $355.7M | $388.6M | $432.3M | $455.6M | $477.3M |
| Operating income | $111.9M | $141.5M | $199.4M | $220.3M | $238.7M |
| Net income | $89.6M | $111.3M | $158.6M | $167.3M | $191.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.25 | $4.04 | $5.76 | $6.07 | $6.98 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $466.6M | $509.3M | $457.8M | $475.4M | $493.5M | $518.0M | $453.4M | $465.0M |
| Net income | $44.7M | $49.0M | $41.1M | $32.5M | $47.2M | $59.1M | $37.1M | $48.3M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.62 | $1.78 | $1.49 | $1.18 | $1.71 | $2.15 | $1.35 | $1.77 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $101.8M | $225.9M | $251.6M | $261.5M | $283.8M |
| Capital expenditure | -$132.0M | -$90.2M | -$67.6M | -$58.0M | -$77.7M |
| Free cash flow | -$30.2M | $135.7M | $184.0M | $203.5M | $206.1M |
| Dividends paid | -$86.8M | -$92.4M | -$97.9M | -$103.5M | -$108.8M |
| Net share buybacks | -$7.6M | -$9.2M | -$7.6M | -$8.0M | -$36.3M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $161.5M
- Total assets
- $1.27B
- Total liabilities
- $276.2M
- Total debt
- $55.6M
- Net debt
- -$105.9M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $998.5M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 25, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2026 | $1.00 | Sep 30, 2026 |
| Jun 5, 2026 | $1.00 | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Mar 6, 2026 | $1.00 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Dec 5, 2025 | $1.00 | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Sep 8, 2025 | $0.95 | Sep 30, 2025 |
| Jun 6, 2025 | $0.95 | Jun 30, 2025 |
| Mar 7, 2025 | $0.95 | Mar 31, 2025 |
| Dec 5, 2024 | $0.95 | Dec 31, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,526,472
- Days to cover
- 5.90
- Change vs previous report
- +9.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jan 28, 1998
- 3-for-2
- Jul 21, 1994
- 4-for-3
- Apr 16, 1993
- 4-for-3
- May 1, 1992
- 3-for-2
- Dec 28, 1987
- 11-for-10