Lamb Weston vs McCormick
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The short version
- McCormick is the larger business, with $6.8B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $6.6B for Lamb Weston.
- Lamb Weston grew revenue faster (2.5%, against 1.7%).
- McCormick kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (15.7% operating margin, against 8.9%).
- McCormick turned more of its sales into free cash flow (10.8% FCF margin, against 8.2%).
- McCormick earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (8.7%, against 7.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Lamb Weston’s earnings: a P/E of 29.4x against 8.7x for McCormick.
| Latest fiscal year | LW · FY26 | MKC · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $7.4B | $13.0B |
| Revenue | $6.6B | $6.8B |
| Free cash flow | $540M | $740M |
| Net income | $290M | $789M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.5% | 1.7% |
| 5-year growth | 12.5% | 4.1% |
| Share count change | −2.5% | −0.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 20.6% | 37.9% |
| Operating margin | 8.9% | 15.7% |
| Net margin | 4.4% | 11.5% |
| FCF margin | 8.2% | 10.8% |
| Return on capital | 7.1% | 8.7% |
| Return on equity | 16.3% | 14.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.9B | $4.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.9x | 3.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $208M | $518M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 29.4x | 8.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
LW $3.2B
MKC $4.7B
FY18
LW $3.4B
MKC $5.3B
FY19
LW $3.8B
MKC $5.3B
FY20
LW $3.8B
MKC $5.6B
FY21
LW $3.7B
MKC $6.3B
FY22
LW $4.1B
MKC $6.4B
FY23
LW $5.4B
MKC $6.7B
FY24
LW $6.5B
MKC $6.7B
FY25
LW $6.5B
MKC $6.8B
FY26
LW $6.6B
MKC —
LW
MKC
Operating margin
FY17
LW 16.4%
MKC 14.8%
FY18
LW 16.9%
MKC 16.8%
FY19
LW 17.8%
MKC 17.9%
FY20
LW 14.7%
MKC 17.8%
FY21
LW 12.9%
MKC 16.1%
FY22
LW 10.8%
MKC 13.6%
FY23
LW 16.5%
MKC 14.5%
FY24
LW 16.5%
MKC 15.8%
FY25
LW 10.3%
MKC 15.7%
FY26
LW 8.9%
MKC —
LW
MKC
Free cash flow
FY17
LW $160M
MKC $633M
FY18
LW $174M
MKC $652M
FY19
LW $347M
MKC $773M
FY20
LW $406M
MKC $816M
FY21
LW $406M
MKC $550M
FY22
LW $129M
MKC $390M
FY23
LW $108M
MKC $973M
FY24
LW −$131M
MKC $647M
FY25
LW $230M
MKC $740M
FY26
LW $540M
MKC —
LW
MKC
Return on capital
FY17
LW 21.4%
MKC 10.1%
FY18
LW 24.4%
MKC 11.7%
FY19
LW 24.4%
MKC 10.0%
FY20
LW 18.0%
MKC 9.9%
FY21
LW —
MKC 8.8%
FY22
LW —
MKC 7.2%
FY23
LW 20.2%
MKC 7.9%
FY24
LW 15.5%
MKC 8.9%
FY25
LW 8.1%
MKC 8.7%
FY26
LW 7.1%
MKC —
LW
MKC
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.