Flowers Foods vs Lamb Weston
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The short version
- Lamb Weston is the larger business, with $6.6B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $5.3B for Flowers Foods.
- Flowers Foods grew revenue faster (3.0%, against 2.5%).
- Lamb Weston kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (8.9% operating margin, against 3.3%).
- Lamb Weston turned more of its sales into free cash flow (8.2% FCF margin, against 6.1%).
- Lamb Weston earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (7.1%, against 4.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Lamb Weston’s earnings: a P/E of 29.4x against 22.8x for Flowers Foods.
| Latest fiscal year | FLO · FY25 | LW · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $1.3B | $7.4B |
| Revenue | $5.3B | $6.6B |
| Free cash flow | $319M | $540M |
| Net income | $83.8M | $290M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 3.0% | 2.5% |
| 5-year growth | 3.7% | 12.5% |
| Share count change | −0.0% | −2.5% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 20.6% |
| Operating margin | 3.3% | 8.9% |
| Net margin | 1.6% | 4.4% |
| FCF margin | 6.1% | 8.2% |
| Return on capital | 4.6% | 7.1% |
| Return on equity | 6.2% | 16.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.7B | $3.9B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.1x | 3.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $215M | $208M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.8x | 29.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 7 |
Revenue
FY17
FLO $3.9B
LW $3.2B
FY18
FLO $4.0B
LW $3.4B
FY19
FLO $4.1B
LW $3.8B
FY20
FLO $4.4B
LW $3.8B
FY21
FLO $4.3B
LW $3.7B
FY22
FLO $4.8B
LW $4.1B
FY23
FLO $5.1B
LW $5.4B
FY24
FLO $5.1B
LW $6.5B
FY25
FLO $5.3B
LW $6.5B
FY26
FLO —
LW $6.6B
FLO
LW
Operating margin
FY17
FLO 4.1%
LW 16.4%
FY18
FLO 5.4%
LW 16.9%
FY19
FLO 5.5%
LW 17.8%
FY20
FLO 7.3%
LW 14.7%
FY21
FLO 6.8%
LW 12.9%
FY22
FLO 6.3%
LW 10.8%
FY23
FLO 3.4%
LW 16.5%
FY24
FLO 6.8%
LW 16.5%
FY25
FLO 3.3%
LW 10.3%
FY26
FLO —
LW 8.9%
FLO
LW
Free cash flow
FY17
FLO $222M
LW $160M
FY18
FLO $196M
LW $174M
FY19
FLO $263M
LW $347M
FY20
FLO $357M
LW $406M
FY21
FLO $209M
LW $406M
FY22
FLO $192M
LW $129M
FY23
FLO $220M
LW $108M
FY24
FLO $281M
LW −$131M
FY25
FLO $319M
LW $230M
FY26
FLO —
LW $540M
FLO
LW
Return on capital
FY17
FLO 7.9%
LW 21.4%
FY18
FLO 7.9%
LW 24.4%
FY19
FLO 8.0%
LW 24.4%
FY20
FLO 11.7%
LW 18.0%
FY21
FLO 10.8%
LW —
FY22
FLO 10.8%
LW —
FY23
FLO 6.0%
LW 20.2%
FY24
FLO 10.9%
LW 15.5%
FY25
FLO 4.6%
LW 8.1%
FY26
FLO —
LW 7.1%
FLO
LW
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.