Central Garden & Pet Company vs HAWKINS, INC., two Wholesale stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Where CENT and HWKN diverge most: on revenue growth, CENT reads -1.0% and HWKN reads +9.4%; on fcf yield, CENT reads 13.9% and HWKN reads 3.5%. The rest of the comparable metrics sit closer together. What CENT's price implies is a bet that sits within the historical range (whole-company basis). What HWKN's price implies is a somewhat stretched bet versus history (whole-company basis). The bull and bear cases for each are in their full reports below.
| Metric | CENT | HWKN |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $40.16 | $124.11 |
| Market cap | $2.5B | $2.6B |
| Sector | Wholesale | Wholesale |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | +17.4% |
| P/E | 15.0 | 32.1 |
| P/B | 1.42 | 4.72 |
| P/S | 0.81 | 2.34 |
| EV/EBITDA | 8.1 | 16.4 |
| Revenue growth | -1.0% | +9.4% |
| Gross margin | 35.9% | 23.4% |
| Operating margin | 14.3% | 12.3% |
| Net margin | 5.4% | 7.3% |
| Return on equity | 9.5% | 14.7% |
| Return on assets | 4.4% | 8.0% |
| Return on invested capital | 6.4% | 11.8% |
| FCF yield | 13.9% | 3.5% |
| Dividend yield | — | 0.6% |
| Debt / equity | 0.68 | 0.45 |
| Current ratio | 3.79 | 2.27 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.86 | 5.51 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.