One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$-0.13 our estimate vs market $12.55
Wall Street consensus: $14.19 (-11,223.0% lower than our fair-value estimate)
9939% below our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
Albertsons Companies, Inc.
ACI · NYQ · Consumer Defensive · Grocery Stores
Current price
$12.55
52-week range
$10.86 - $20.00
Market cap
$6.09B
Balance sheet
Distressed
1.46x Concerning
Net debt $15.39B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 0.1% last year.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 8/10 years.
- Risk Stock trades 315.9% above its 5-year average P/E.
- Risk Net debt grew 4.1% over 3 years.
What this company does
Albertsons Companies, Inc.
Albertsons is one of America's largest food and drug retailers, operating familiar grocery store chains like Safeway, Vons, and Jewel-Osco. The company primarily makes money by selling groceries, pharmacy items, and fuel that people need for their daily lives. Because these are essential goods, sales tend to be steady, but intense competition can impact its margins (the amount of profit made on each dollar of sales).
How the company got here
Albertsons was founded in 1939 by Joe Albertson in Boise, Idaho, as a single grocery store with innovative features for the time like free parking and a money-back guarantee. The company grew steadily, expanding across the western United States and becoming a public company in 1959 to fund further growth. A key turning point was a 2015 merger with Safeway Inc., which significantly increased its size and brought well-known store brands like Vons and Jewel-Osco under its umbrella. After a period of being privately held, the company became public again in 2020.
What it actually does
Albertsons is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, operating thousands of stores under many different names. You might know it as Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, or one of its many other local banners. These stores sell a wide variety of grocery items, fresh produce, meat, and baked goods, as well as health and beauty products. Many locations also have in-store pharmacies, fuel centers, and coffee shops, making them a one-stop shop for many customers.
Non-Perishables
This is the largest part of Albertsons' business, making up about half of its revenue. It includes all the shelf-stable items you'd find in the center aisles of the grocery store, like canned goods, pasta, snacks, and drinks. The company also sells its own private-label products (store brands like Signature SELECT and O Organics) which are often more affordable for customers and more profitable for the company. Customers pay for these items at the checkout, just like any other product.
Fresh
This segment is the second-largest part of the business, representing roughly a third of the company's sales. It includes fresh produce (fruits and vegetables), meat, seafood, deli items, and bakery goods. Maintaining quality and freshness in this area is crucial for attracting and retaining shoppers. Albertsons operates its own manufacturing facilities and distribution centers to help control the quality and supply of these perishable items.
Pharmacy
A significant and growing part of the business, the pharmacy brings in about 10-15% of total revenue. Located inside many of its grocery stores, these pharmacies fill prescriptions and offer other health services like vaccinations. This is a convenient service for shoppers who can pick up their groceries and prescriptions in one trip. While the profit margin (the amount of profit made on each sale) on prescriptions can be lower than other items, pharmacies drive a lot of customer traffic to the stores.
Fuel and Other
This smaller segment includes the fuel centers located at many of its stores and other miscellaneous services. Fuel sales account for around 5% of the company's revenue. The fuel stations are a way to encourage customer loyalty, often offering discounts on gas based on how much a customer spends on groceries. This encourages shoppers to buy their groceries and fill up their gas tanks at the same location.
What management is betting on now
Albertsons is heavily focused on digital growth and making shopping more convenient. This includes expanding its e-commerce (online shopping) options like DriveUp & Go and 30-minute delivery. The company is also investing heavily in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve everything from supply chain (the system of getting products from suppliers to store shelves) to personalized promotions for its loyalty program members. Another key priority is growing its own private-label brands, which helps improve profitability and offers unique products to customers.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2025 Q3
$3.90M
FY2025 Q4
$274.00M
FY2026 Q2
$169.80M
FY2026 Q3
$161.70M
FY2026 Q4
$290.50M
FY2027 Q2
$206.80M
Revenue
$24.94B
Net income
$84.70M
Diluted EPS
0.17
Operating cash flow
$728.90M
Free cash flow
$206.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$20.25B
Net income
$-480.80M
Diluted EPS
-0.86
Operating cash flow
$717.10M
Free cash flow
$290.50M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$18.92B
Net income
$168.50M
Diluted EPS
0.30
Operating cash flow
$527.60M
Free cash flow
$161.70M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$24.88B
Net income
$236.40M
Diluted EPS
0.41
Operating cash flow
$754.40M
Free cash flow
$169.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$18.80B
Net income
$171.80M
Diluted EPS
0.29
Operating cash flow
$758.50M
Free cash flow
$274.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$18.55B
Net income
$145.50M
Diluted EPS
0.25
Operating cash flow
$413.20M
Free cash flow
$3.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $-0.13 vs current price $12.55
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $14.19 (-11,223.0% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $-0.13 a share — about 101.0% below today's price of $12.55, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $15.4B. Interest coverage 1.5x.
Net debt
$15.39B
Interest coverage
1.46x
Albertsons Companies, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 1.5 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
ACI
BASELINE
Albertsons Companies, Inc.
Total debt $15.70B Interest coverage 1.46x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $24.19B Interest coverage 2.96x +102% vs ACI Carries about 2.0x more debt cushion than ACI.
Total debt $2.11B Interest coverage 391.03x +26,628% vs ACI Carries about 267.3x more debt cushion than ACI.
Total debt $2.77B Interest coverage 20.40x +1,294% vs ACI Carries about 13.9x more debt cushion than ACI.
Total debt $647.80M Interest coverage 7.39x +405% vs ACI Carries about 5.0x more debt cushion than ACI.
What you should know
The case for and against ACI
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 0.1% last year.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 8/10 years.
-
Dividend yield is 5.4% with 7-year payout history.
Risks
-
Stock trades 315.9% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Net debt grew 4.1% over 3 years.
-
Operating margin compressed from 2.8% to 1.4% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
78.44x
Forward P/E
6.79x
P/B
3.80x
P/S
0.07x
EV/EBITDA
6.14x
PEG ratio
1.31x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
27.0%
Operating margin
1.4%
Net margin
0.1%
ROE
2.7%
ROA
3.9%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
9.74x
Current ratio
0.84x
Quick ratio
0.16x
Total debt
$15.70B
Total cash
$307.90M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$83.23B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
4.5%
EPS TTM
0.16
EPS 5Y CAGR
-43.9%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$2.34B
Free CF TTM
$527.30M
FCF margin
0.6%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
5.4%
Payout ratio
387.5%
Last ex-div date
2026-07-24