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 +0.1% and HWKN reads +11.1%; on fcf yield, CENT reads 10.6% and HWKN reads 3.0%. 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 | $43.27 | $138.83 |
| Market cap | $2.7B | $2.9B |
| Sector | Wholesale | Wholesale |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | +20.4% |
| P/E | 15.7 | 35.5 |
| P/B | 1.62 | 5.42 |
| P/S | 0.85 | 2.67 |
| EV/EBITDA | 9.4 | 18.0 |
| Revenue growth | +0.1% | +11.1% |
| Gross margin | 33.1% | 20.4% |
| Operating margin | 12.6% | 8.8% |
| Net margin | 5.4% | 7.5% |
| Return on equity | 10.4% | 15.3% |
| Return on assets | 4.6% | 8.3% |
| Return on invested capital | 7.0% | 12.3% |
| FCF yield | 10.6% | 3.0% |
| Dividend yield | — | 0.5% |
| Debt / equity | 0.72 | 0.46 |
| Current ratio | 3.45 | 2.21 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.83 | 5.88 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 6 / 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.