CENTCENTRAL GARDEN & PET CO

Wholesale-Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods

Revenue: $3.1B; 2.2% YoY
Operating margin: 8.0%; 38% YoY
EBITDA: $335M; 21% YoY
Market cap: $558M
Employees: 6,000; $522K revenue each
Net debt / EBITDA: 0.6×; $196M net debt
AI in 10-K: 0.0; mentions per 10K words

Takeover score 4 of 13

Fixable underperformance 1 of 7

TSR below peersNo
—
3+ of last 5 years
High CEO pay despite TSRNo
—
Median CEO pay ≥ $15M while TSR trails
Earnings not backed by cashNo
204% of net income
Cash flow under 80% of net income
Dilutive SBCNo
1% of revenue
Over 10% of revenue
Payouts exceed cash flowNo
47% of cash flow
Buybacks + dividends over cash flow
Goodwill-heavyNo
14% of assets
Over 40% of assets
Shareholder dissentYes
64% lowest support
Any vote under 80% support

Buyer economics 3 of 4

Low revenue per employeeYes
$522K · 19th pct
Bottom quartile of its SIC industry
Quiet on AIYes
0.0 per 10K words · 0th pct
Bottom quartile of AI mentions in 10-Ks
Net cashNo
0.6× EBITDA net debt
More cash than debt, positive EBITDA
Buyout-sizedYes
$558M market cap
Market cap $500M–$5B

Catalysts 0 of 2

Active 13DNo
0 filings
Active-intent 13D in 18 months
Net insider sellingNo
−$1M net
Net sales over $10M in 12 months

Financials

Metric	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025	YoY	Trend
Revenue	$3.3B	$3.3B	$3.3B	$3.2B	$3.1B	2.2%
Operating income	$254M	$260M	$211M	$185M	$250M	35%
Net income	$152M	$152M	$126M	$108M	$163M	51%
Operating cash flow	$251M	−$34M	$382M	$395M	$333M	16%
Capex	$80M	$115M	$54M	$43M	$41M	4.0%
Stock-based comp	$23M	$26M	$28M	$21M	$21M	2.3%
Buybacks	$28M	$62M	$37M	$24M	$155M	544%

Deal filings

None.

13D filers

None on file.

Insider trading

Open-market buys, 12 mo: $0 · 0
Open-market sells, 12 mo: $1M · 7
Net: −$1M

Pay vs performance

No pay-versus-performance disclosure yet.