Spectrum Brands vs WD-40
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The short version
- Spectrum Brands is the larger business, with $2.8B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $620M for WD-40, about 4.5 times as much.
- WD-40 grew revenue faster (5.0%, against −5.2%).
- WD-40 kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (16.7% operating margin, against 4.5%).
- WD-40 turned more of its sales into free cash flow (13.5% FCF margin, against 5.9%).
- WD-40 earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (32.3%, against 5.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of WD-40’s earnings: a P/E of 32.3x against 25.2x for Spectrum Brands.
| Latest fiscal year | SPB · FY25 | WDFC · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $1.8B | $2.9B |
| Revenue | $2.8B | $620M |
| Free cash flow | $165M | $83.4M |
| Net income | $99.9M | $91.0M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −5.2% | 5.0% |
| 5-year growth | 1.4% | 8.7% |
| Share count change | −15.1% | −0.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 36.7% | 55.1% |
| Operating margin | 4.5% | 16.7% |
| Net margin | 3.6% | 14.7% |
| FCF margin | 5.9% | 13.5% |
| Return on capital | 5.3% | 32.3% |
| Return on equity | 4.9% | 36.5% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $458M | $28.9M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.1x | 0.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $375M | $62.6M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 25.2x | 32.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 8 |
Revenue
FY16
SPB $3.0B
WDFC $381M
FY17
SPB $3.7B
WDFC $381M
FY18
SPB $3.8B
WDFC $409M
FY19
SPB $3.8B
WDFC $423M
FY20
SPB $2.6B
WDFC $409M
FY21
SPB $3.0B
WDFC $488M
FY22
SPB $3.1B
WDFC $519M
FY23
SPB $2.9B
WDFC $537M
FY24
SPB $3.0B
WDFC $591M
FY25
SPB $2.8B
WDFC $620M
SPB
WDFC
Operating margin
FY16
SPB 11.0%
WDFC 18.7%
FY17
SPB 7.8%
WDFC 20.0%
FY18
SPB 5.9%
WDFC 19.2%
FY19
SPB −4.0%
WDFC 19.5%
FY20
SPB 0.3%
WDFC 18.9%
FY21
SPB 3.2%
WDFC 18.2%
FY22
SPB 0.7%
WDFC 16.8%
FY23
SPB −7.0%
WDFC 16.7%
FY24
SPB 5.8%
WDFC 16.3%
FY25
SPB 4.5%
WDFC 16.7%
SPB
WDFC
Free cash flow
FY16
SPB $852M
WDFC $61.0M
FY17
SPB $758M
WDFC $35.4M
FY18
SPB $267M
WDFC $52.5M
FY19
SPB −$39.3M
WDFC $49.6M
FY20
SPB $246M
WDFC $53.4M
FY21
SPB $245M
WDFC $69.7M
FY22
SPB −$118M
WDFC −$5.7M
FY23
SPB −$469M
WDFC $91.5M
FY24
SPB $119M
WDFC $87.8M
FY25
SPB $165M
WDFC $83.4M
SPB
WDFC
Return on capital
FY16
SPB 4.7%
WDFC —
FY17
SPB 3.0%
WDFC —
FY18
SPB 2.6%
WDFC 41.9%
FY19
SPB −2.6%
WDFC 32.8%
FY20
SPB 0.2%
WDFC 31.3%
FY21
SPB 2.1%
WDFC 32.2%
FY22
SPB 0.5%
WDFC 26.5%
FY23
SPB −5.0%
WDFC 24.0%
FY24
SPB 4.5%
WDFC 26.1%
FY25
SPB 5.3%
WDFC 32.3%
SPB
WDFC
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.