# Freshpet (FRPT.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/FRPT

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:28:38.624Z. Financial observations: FY2012–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $67.65 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 8

- Operating margin variation: 3.63×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -0.02×

- FY2017: -0.02×

- FY2018: -0.03×

- FY2019: -0.00×

- FY2020: -0.01×

- FY2021: -0.06×

- FY2022: -0.09×

- FY2023: -0.04×

- FY2024: 0.04×

- FY2025: 0.09×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: -1.7%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -3.4%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 2.6 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 41.1%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 38.6%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 25.6%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -7.0%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -1.6%

- FY2017: -1.9%

- FY2018: -3.4%

- FY2019: -0.1%

- FY2020: -0.5%

- FY2021: -3.0%

- FY2022: -4.5%

- FY2023: -2.2%

- FY2024: 3.1%

- FY2025: 6.4%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: -2.65×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$167M

- Net income, five-year total: $63M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 8.7%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.5 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 3.5 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 10.4%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 7.80×

- FY2022: 1.48×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 1.00×

- FY2025: 1.00×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -1.9% vs 3.1%

- Per-share earnings: -0.11 to 0.93 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 5.3%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 7.1%

- Market cap gain: $2.6B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $49M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 5.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 7.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $1.04

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$0.11

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.93

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.43

- Average buyback yield: 0.3%

- Buyback history: 6 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $0

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $46M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -1.9%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 3.1%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$0.09

- FY2017: -$0.12

- FY2018: -$0.15

- FY2019: -$0.04

- FY2020: -$0.08

- FY2021: -$0.69

- FY2022: -$1.29

- FY2023: -$0.70

- FY2024: $0.93

- FY2025: $2.48

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -1.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.82×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 8.6%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.15×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -12.6%

- FY2017: -10.9%

- FY2018: -17.1%

- FY2019: -7.5%

- FY2020: -5.6%

- FY2021: -3.9%

- FY2022: -1.4%

- FY2023: -7.5%

- FY2024: -6.8%

- FY2025: -1.2%

## Holders

- [Glenn Welling](https://gigainvestors.com/ENG): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 58% since Jan 2025 · "Freshpet under pressure as softer FY26 sales outlook upstages higher profits" (seekingalpha.com, Feb 2026) · sales +13%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:47.253Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-05-06: Pet-food maker Freshpet cuts sales, earnings guidance ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pet-food-maker-freshpet-cuts-133041355.html))

- 2025-09-08: Freshpet Sales Trends Still Weak Despite Strong Margins, UBS Says ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/freshpet-sales-trends-still-weak-152929286.html))

- 2025-10-08: Freshpet faces slow sales on weaker spending, pet adoption trends ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/freshpet-faces-slow-sales-weaker-154213091.html))

- 2026-02-23: Freshpet under pressure as softer FY26 sales outlook upstages higher profits ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4555094-freshpet-under-pressure-as-softer-fy26-sales-outlook-upstages-higher-profits?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

- 2026-08-05: Freshpet Stock Soars on Quarterly Beat Amid Increased Core Customer Spending, Volume Growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/freshpet-stock-soars-quarterly-beat-183726113.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +13%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1611647/000161164726000006/frpt-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-23.

- FY2016: $133M 

- FY2017: $156M 

- FY2018: $193M 

- FY2019: $246M 

- FY2020: $319M 

- FY2021: $425M 

- FY2022: $595M 

- FY2023: $767M 

- FY2024: $975M 

- FY2025: $1.1B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 38.6%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1611647/000161164726000006/frpt-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-23.

- FY2016: 45.4% 

- FY2017: 46.3% 

- FY2018: 46.6% 

- FY2019: 46.4% 

- FY2020: 41.7% 

- FY2021: 38.1% 

- FY2022: 31.2% 

- FY2023: 32.7% 

- FY2024: 40.6% 

- FY2025: 38.6% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in packaged foods; annual sales are USD 1.1 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1611647/000161164726000006/frpt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); FY2025: revenue 1102015000; grossProfit 425200000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); FRPT.US: Freshpet, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and markets natural fresh meals and treats for dogs and cats in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It offers dog food, cat food, and dog treats under the Freshpet brand name; and fresh treats under the Dognation and Dog Joy brand names. The company sells its products through a network of company-owned branded refrigerators, the Freshpet Fridges, as well as through various classes of retail, including grocery, mass, club, pet specialty, and international, as well as digital. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 32.7% to 40.6% during 2023–25; it lost 1.7% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 32.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 40.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1611647/000161164726000006/frpt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 38.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,-0.01578192284213895],[2017,-0.018946228672436356],[2018,-0.03387980491015015],[2019,-0.0010754198210413608],[2020,-0.004707233133920637],[2021,-0.02978896431520044],[2022,-0.0454003011462129],[2023,-0.02223695913050392],[2024,0.030988013159356044],[2025,0.06370065962697836]]; median -0.017364075757287652. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Spends 42% of cash earnings on expansion; earns 8.7% on new investment.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2024: growth capex 113477000; upkeep 73615000; owner earnings 46925000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 2.4182631859350026.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1611647/000161164726000006/frpt-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); FY2025: growth capex 58463000; upkeep 89721000; owner earnings 139137000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.4201829851153899.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); Incremental return on capital 0.08725686512866782, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,1295000],[2020,2568000],[2021,0],[2022,1441000],[2023,780766000],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 2.1% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); FRPT.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 2.07 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 3.4 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); Closing price 67.65 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 19.665845780466476; price multiple 3.4399740929116214. FY2025 cash earnings/share 2.4829487659938967. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $8.50 per share

- 2016-11: $9.25 per share

- 2016-12: $10.15 per share

- 2017-01: $11.15 per share

- 2017-02: $10.10 per share

- 2017-03: $11.00 per share

- 2017-04: $11.75 per share

- 2017-05: $15.20 per share

- 2017-06: $16.60 per share

- 2017-07: $17.05 per share

- 2017-08: $15.85 per share

- 2017-09: $15.65 per share

- 2017-10: $15.55 per share

- 2017-11: $19.00 per share

- 2017-12: $18.95 per share

- 2018-01: $18.40 per share

- 2018-02: $20.00 per share

- 2018-03: $16.45 per share

- 2018-04: $19.80 per share

- 2018-05: $22.80 per share

- 2018-06: $27.45 per share

- 2018-07: $29.00 per share

- 2018-08: $37.15 per share

- 2018-09: $36.70 per share

- 2018-10: $38.10 per share

- 2018-11: $33.00 per share

- 2018-12: $32.16 per share

- 2019-01: $35.97 per share

- 2019-02: $41.22 per share

- 2019-03: $42.29 per share

- 2019-04: $44.66 per share

- 2019-05: $46.47 per share

- 2019-06: $45.51 per share

- 2019-07: $45.15 per share

- 2019-08: $49.08 per share

- 2019-09: $49.77 per share

- 2019-10: $52.26 per share

- 2019-11: $53.74 per share

- 2019-12: $59.09 per share

- 2020-01: $62.88 per share

- 2020-02: $66.46 per share

- 2020-03: $63.87 per share

- 2020-04: $75.41 per share

- 2020-05: $77.18 per share

- 2020-06: $83.66 per share

- 2020-07: $96.05 per share

- 2020-08: $113.60 per share

- 2020-09: $111.65 per share

- 2020-10: $114.50 per share

- 2020-11: $136.88 per share

- 2020-12: $141.99 per share

- 2021-01: $139.31 per share

- 2021-02: $155.88 per share

- 2021-03: $158.81 per share

- 2021-04: $184.82 per share

- 2021-05: $176.82 per share

- 2021-06: $162.96 per share

- 2021-07: $146.45 per share

- 2021-08: $128.14 per share

- 2021-09: $142.69 per share

- 2021-10: $155.91 per share

- 2021-11: $108.02 per share

- 2021-12: $95.27 per share

- 2022-01: $93.03 per share

- 2022-02: $95.23 per share

- 2022-03: $102.64 per share

- 2022-04: $93.35 per share

- 2022-05: $71.97 per share

- 2022-06: $51.89 per share

- 2022-07: $53.44 per share

- 2022-08: $43.53 per share

- 2022-09: $50.09 per share

- 2022-10: $58.95 per share

- 2022-11: $67.02 per share

- 2022-12: $52.77 per share

- 2023-01: $63.33 per share

- 2023-02: $62.18 per share

- 2023-03: $66.19 per share

- 2023-04: $68.97 per share

- 2023-05: $59.76 per share

- 2023-06: $65.81 per share

- 2023-07: $73.54 per share

- 2023-08: $75.51 per share

- 2023-09: $65.88 per share

- 2023-10: $57.40 per share

- 2023-11: $70.95 per share

- 2023-12: $86.76 per share

- 2024-01: $86.10 per share

- 2024-02: $113.03 per share

- 2024-03: $115.86 per share

- 2024-04: $106.07 per share

- 2024-05: $131.17 per share

- 2024-06: $129.39 per share

- 2024-07: $121.70 per share

- 2024-08: $136.00 per share

- 2024-09: $136.77 per share

- 2024-10: $132.54 per share

- 2024-11: $153.05 per share

- 2024-12: $148.11 per share

- 2025-01: $159.95 per share

- 2025-02: $107.03 per share

- 2025-03: $83.17 per share

- 2025-04: $73.54 per share

- 2025-05: $80.16 per share

- 2025-06: $67.96 per share

- 2025-07: $68.32 per share

- 2025-08: $55.82 per share

- 2025-09: $55.11 per share

- 2025-10: $49.21 per share

- 2025-11: $57.16 per share

- 2025-12: $60.93 per share

- 2026-01: $69.70 per share

- 2026-02: $84.45 per share

- 2026-03: $58.96 per share

- 2026-04: $67.38 per share

- 2026-05: $51.60 per share

- 2026-06: $59.12 per share

- 2026-07: $59.54 per share

- 2026-08: $69.86 per share

- 2026-09: $57.56 per share

- 2026-10: $67.65 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1611647/000161164726000006/frpt-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-23.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.

## Reported holder observations

- [Glenn Welling](https://gigainvestors.com/ENG): 484,741 FRPT shares; USD 28,658,000 reported position value; 8.87% of portfolio; new; quarter 2026 Q2.

# FRPT — Freshpet Inc.

Held by 1 investor · USD 28,658,000 total · 2026 Q2 · reported price USD 59.12 (split-adjusted).
Page: https://gigainvestors.com/s/FRPT

## Holders (2026 Q2)

| Investor | Value | % of their portfolio | This quarter |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| Glenn Welling (https://gigainvestors.com/ENG) | USD 28,658,000 | 8.9% | new |

## Total held by quarter

- 2022 Q3: USD 14,792,228 · 1 holder · USD 50.09
- 2022 Q4: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2023 Q1: USD 20,301,532 · 1 holder · USD 66.19
- 2023 Q2: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2023 Q3: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2023 Q4: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2024 Q1: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2024 Q2: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2024 Q3: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2024 Q4: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2025 Q1: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2025 Q2: USD 42,076,075 · 1 holder · USD 67.96
- 2025 Q3: USD 34,120,254 · 1 holder · USD 55.11
- 2025 Q4: USD 24,440,851 · 1 holder · USD 60.93
- 2026 Q1: USD 0 · 0 holders
- 2026 Q2: USD 28,658,000 · 1 holder · USD 59.12