Grocery Outlet vs United Natural Foods

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KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put Grocery Outlet and United Natural Foods side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:

United Natural Foods is the larger business, with $31.2B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $4.7B for Grocery Outlet, about 6.6 times as much.
Grocery Outlet grew revenue faster (7.3%, against −2.0%).
United Natural Foods kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (0.7% operating margin, against −4.7%).
United Natural Foods turned more of its sales into free cash flow (1.0% FCF margin, against 0.5%).
United Natural Foods earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.3%, against −11.6%).

Who comes out ahead

Of the 10 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.

Grocery Outlet

4/10

Revenue growth5-year growthGross marginShare count change

United Natural Foods

UNFI

6/10

Operating marginNet marginFCF marginReturn on capitalReturn on equityPiotroski F-score

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	GO FY25	UNFI FY26
Size
Market cap	$1.3B	$3.0B
Revenue	$4.7B	$31.2B
Free cash flow	$23.8M	$323M
Net income	−$225M	$84.0M
Growth
Revenue growth	7.3%	−2.0%
5-year growth	8.4%	2.9%
Share count change	−1.6%	4.3%
Profitability
Gross margin	30.3%	13.5%
Operating margin	−4.7%	0.7%
Net margin	−4.8%	0.3%
FCF margin	0.5%	1.0%
Return on capital	−11.6%	5.3%
Return on equity	−20.6%	5.3%
Balance sheet
Net debt	$426M	$1.5B
Net debt / EBITDA	—	3.0x
Dividends and buybacks	$0.0M	$50.0M
Valuation & quality
P/E	—	—
Piotroski F-score	5	6

Ten years

Revenue

FY17

GO $2.1B

UNFI $9.3B

FY18

GO $2.3B

UNFI $10.2B

FY19

GO $2.6B

UNFI $22.3B

FY20

GO $3.1B

UNFI $26.6B

FY21

GO $3.1B

UNFI $27.0B

FY22

GO $3.6B

UNFI $28.9B

FY23

GO $4.0B

UNFI $30.3B

FY24

GO $4.4B

UNFI $31.0B

FY25

GO $4.7B

UNFI $31.8B

FY26

GO —

UNFI $31.2B

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

GO UNFI

Operating margin

FY17

GO 3.7%

UNFI 2.4%

FY18

GO 3.6%

UNFI 2.2%

FY19

GO 2.7%

UNFI −0.9%

FY20

GO 3.4%

UNFI −0.7%

FY21

GO 2.9%

UNFI 1.1%

FY22

GO 2.7%

UNFI 1.5%

FY23

GO 3.2%

UNFI 0.4%

FY24

GO 1.8%

UNFI 0.0%

FY25

GO −4.7%

UNFI −0.1%

FY26

GO —

UNFI 0.7%

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

GO UNFI

Free cash flow

FY17

GO $13.6M

UNFI $217M

FY18

GO $41.1M

UNFI $64.4M

FY19

GO $35.6M

UNFI $57.0M

FY20

GO $56.3M

UNFI $284M

FY21

GO $42.2M

UNFI $304M

FY22

GO $55.0M

UNFI $80.0M

FY23

GO $134M

UNFI $301M

FY24

GO −$74.7M

UNFI −$92.0M

FY25

GO $23.8M

UNFI $239M

FY26

GO —

UNFI $323M

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

GO UNFI

Return on capital

FY17

GO —

UNFI 7.8%

FY18

GO —

UNFI 8.8%

FY19

GO 5.4%

UNFI −4.7%

FY20

GO 8.7%

UNFI −3.8%

FY21

GO 5.5%

UNFI 6.4%

FY22

GO 6.0%

UNFI 9.0%

FY23

GO 6.9%

UNFI 3.2%

FY24

GO 3.7%

UNFI 0.2%

FY25

GO −11.6%

UNFI −0.7%

FY26

GO —

UNFI 5.3%

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

GO UNFI

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.