Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO) AI Stock Analysis

Flowers Foods, Inc. produces and distributes packaged bakery products across the United States. Its brand portfolio includes Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake. Product categories feature fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, tortillas, and frozen breads and rolls. The company distributes through direct-store-delivery and warehouse delivery networks to supermarkets, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, restaurants, institutions, and dollar stores. Operating 46 bakeries—44 owned and two leased—Flowers Foods was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.

Between FY2021 and FY2025, Flowers Foods increased annual revenue from $4.33B to $5.26B, reflecting a 5-year revenue CAGR of 3.7%. Operating margin was 6.8% in FY2021, fell to 3.4% in FY2023, recovered to 6.8% in FY2024, and dropped to 3.3% in FY2025. Annual net income declined from $206.2M in FY2021 to $83.8M in FY2025, bringing net margin to 1.6%. For the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2026, revenue stood at $5.22B with an operating margin of 6.2% and EPS of $0.27. In the latest quarter, quarterly revenue grew 6.8% year-over-year, while quarterly earnings expanded 20.0%.

As of June 30, 2026, Flowers Foods held $52.8M in cash and short-term investments against total debt of $2.01B, resulting in net debt of $1.96B. The company recorded a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52 on shareholders' equity of $1.32B. In FY2025, operating cash flow reached $446.2M and free cash flow was $319.1M. Cash deployment during FY2025 included capital expenditures of $127.1M, share buybacks of $5.5M, and dividends paid of $209.3M.

At a closing price of $6.11, Flowers Foods trades at a trailing P/E of 22.6x and a forward P/E of 22.9x, above the median of its US-listed Consumer Defensive peers of 18.6x and 14.3x, respectively. Its enterprise value to EBITDA ratio is 9.7x, compared to the peer median of 11.7x, while its price-to-sales ratio is 0.2x versus the peer median of 0.7x. Over the past year, FLO returned -47.1% compared to a 16.8% return for the S&P 500 (SPY). Over five years, the stock fell 68.5% while SPY gained 83.0%.

Flowers Foods pays a quarterly dividend with an annualized forward rate of $0.50, yielding 8.18%. The company has paid dividends for 25 consecutive years and recorded a 5-year annualized dividend growth rate of 4.5%. Its payout ratio stands at 78.4%, with the last ex-dividend date on September 11, 2026. In FY2025, total dividend payments totaled $209.3M.

Wall Street coverage comprises 1 Strong Buy, 0 Buy, 3 Hold, and 1 Sell rating. The mean price target of $7.40 implies an upside of 21.1% over the last close of $6.11. For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026, analysts estimate EPS of $0.77 (a decline of 29.1%) on revenue of $5.08B. Across the last 4 quarters, the company delivered 2 EPS beats. The next earnings release is scheduled for November 5, 2026.

This page is an AI-written research summary of Flowers Foods, Inc. (FLO). The text was generated on October 30, 2026 from Quotelinks data as of October 16, 2026 (company profile, annual results, latest balance sheet, valuation, price performance and analyst estimates). An automatic check rejects any draft that contains a figure not found in that data. It is not investment advice; verify figures on the linked tabs before making decisions.

Related: FLO income statement, FLO balance sheet, FLO key metrics, FLO analyst forecast, FLO chart. See the FLO stock overview for the latest quote and news.