Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Tobacco
Universal Corporation UVV
$42.13 -0.17% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.05B
Next earnings report: Nov 4, 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 $0.76, down 81.5% year over year.
- The shares trade at 55.4× trailing earnings, higher than 95% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- Net debt is 5.3× 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 6, 2026.
Growth26Very weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 21%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 16%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 38%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 41%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 20%
Quality29Very weak
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 25%
- Gross marginBottom 19%
- Operating marginTop 49%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 45%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 15%
- Interest coverBottom 30%
Value55Neutral
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 35%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 9%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 37%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 27%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 2%
Momentum31Weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 35%
- 6-month returnBottom 25%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 34%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 47%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 22%
Revisions2Very weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 8%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 15%
Stability69Positive
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 15%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 30%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 14%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 15%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -0.8% | -3.0% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -65.6% | -81.5% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 19.3% | 16.8% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 8.5% | 6.2% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 4.5% | 5.8% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -3.0% | -0.8% | ↓ | Bottom 21% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -81.5% | -65.6% | ↓ | Bottom 16% |
| Gross margin | 16.8% | 19.3% | ↓ | Bottom 19% |
| Operating margin | 6.2% | 8.5% | ↓ | Top 49% |
| Net margin | 0.7% | 3.5% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 5.8% | 4.5% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 3.1% | — | Bottom 25% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 4.4% | — | Top 41% |
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.
- -6.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.2%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +3.7 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 5.32×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 6.40%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.26%
- Shareholder yield
- 6.66%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.2%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.3%
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 5, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 1 of 6
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -85.7%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | -172.0% | -1.3% | -12.4% | -12.6% | — |
| May 28, 2026 | -142.6% | -7.4% | -3.9% | -3.7% | -18.5% |
| Feb 9, 2026 | -29.7% | -10.7% | -7.5% | -9.1% | -6.5% |
| Nov 5, 2025 | +1.5% | +1.4% | +4.4% | +2.6% | +12.5% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | -67.8% | +1.0% | +0.3% | +2.1% | -5.4% |
| May 29, 2025 | — | +0.1% | +1.8% | +0.3% | -4.5% |
| Apr 21, 2025 | — | +0.2% | +12.0% | +10.6% | +8.2% |
| Jan 17, 2025 | — | +0.8% | +0.2% | +4.5% | +1.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | -$0.18 | $0.25 | -172.0% | $523.8M |
| May 28, 2026 | -$0.46 | $1.08 | -142.6% | $715.2M |
| Feb 9, 2026 | $1.35 | $1.92 | -29.7% | $861.3M |
| Nov 5, 2025 | $1.36 | $1.34 | +1.5% | $754.2M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $0.38 | $1.18 | -67.8% | $593.8M |
| May 29, 2025 | $0.80 | — | — | $702.3M |
| Apr 21, 2025 | $1.45 | — | — | $937.2M |
| Jan 17, 2025 | $1.04 | — | — | $710.8M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 55.4× | 13.3× | 95th | Bottom 35% |
| P/E (forward) | 13.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.7× | — | — | Top 37% |
| EV / Sales | 0.73× | — | — | Top 27% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 15.63% | — | — | Top 9% |
| Earnings yield | 1.80% | — | — | Bottom 35% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 9.4× – 68.5× 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
- -24.6%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -81.5%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +416.3%
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)
- -7.0%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.8%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -8.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -18.3%
- RSI (14)
- 29.9
- Relative volume
- 1.01×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 24.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 52th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.11
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.07
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -28.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -38.1%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 29, 2023 | Sep 29, 2026 | -38.1% | 688 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jun 1, 2022 | Oct 7, 2022 | -30.9% | 89 days | 301 days (Dec 19, 2023) |
| May 21, 2021 | Nov 30, 2021 | -22.8% | 133 days | 97 days (Apr 20, 2022) |
| Jan 7, 2021 | Feb 1, 2021 | -16.4% | 16 days | 24 days (Mar 8, 2021) |
| Oct 7, 2020 | Oct 29, 2020 | -10.9% | 16 days | 8 days (Nov 10, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.05B
- P/E (TTM)
- 55.4
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $0.76
- Revenue (TTM)
- $2.85B
- Dividend yield
- 9.78%
- 52-week range
- $41.10 – $59.38
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.10B | $2.57B | $2.75B | $2.95B | $2.92B |
| Gross profit | $408.9M | $458.3M | $536.1M | $548.9M | $512.0M |
| Operating income | $160.3M | $181.1M | $222.0M | $244.2M | $211.3M |
| Net income | $86.6M | $124.1M | $119.6M | $95.0M | $32.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.47 | $4.97 | $4.78 | $3.78 | $1.30 |
| Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $710.8M | $937.2M | $702.3M | $593.8M | $754.2M | $861.3M | $715.2M | $523.8M |
| Net income | $25.9M | $59.6M | $9.3M | $8.5M | $34.2M | $33.2M | -$43.3M | -$5.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.03 | $2.37 | $0.37 | $0.34 | $1.36 | $1.32 | -$1.72 | -$0.20 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $44.9M | -$10.6M | -$74.6M | $327.0M | $129.1M |
| Capital expenditure | -$53.2M | -$54.7M | -$66.0M | -$62.6M | -$48.8M |
| Free cash flow | -$8.3M | -$65.2M | -$140.6M | $264.4M | $80.3M |
| Dividends paid | -$76.4M | -$77.4M | -$78.4M | -$79.7M | -$81.3M |
| Net share buybacks | -$3.1M | -$3.4M | -$4.7M | $0 | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $173.6M
- Total assets
- $3.04B
- Total liabilities
- $1.61B
- Total debt
- $1.22B
- Net debt
- $1.04B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.39B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 9, 2026 | $0.83 | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Jul 13, 2026 | $0.83 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Apr 15, 2026 | $0.82 | May 4, 2026 |
| Jan 12, 2026 | $0.82 | Feb 2, 2026 |
| Oct 10, 2025 | $0.82 | Nov 3, 2025 |
| Jul 14, 2025 | $0.82 | Aug 4, 2025 |
| Apr 14, 2025 | $0.81 | May 5, 2025 |
| Jan 13, 2025 | $0.81 | Feb 3, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,048,191
- Days to cover
- 6.87
- Change vs previous report
- +0.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jan 2, 1992
- 2-for-1
- Mar 2, 1984
- 2-for-1
- Mar 6, 1978
- 2-for-1
- Nov 12, 1975
- 2-for-1