If you have been wondering whether Central Garden & Pet is quietly turning into a bargain, you are not alone. This stock sits at the crossroads of steady pet and garden demand and a price that has slipped under many investors radar.
Despite a choppy year, with the share price down 16.0% year to date and 20.0% over the last 12 months, the stock has still delivered returns of 8.1% over 3 years and 11.2% over 5 years, hinting that the recent weakness might be more about sentiment than the long term story.
Recent headlines around the resilience of pet spending, even as consumers tighten their belts, have helped frame Central Garden & Pet as a potential defensive play tied to everyday household habits. At the same time, coverage highlighting management focus on brand strength and operational efficiency has added context to the recent pullback, suggesting the market may be underestimating the company strategic positioning.
Our valuation checks give Central Garden & Pet a 6 out of 6 score for being undervalued, and in the rest of this article we will walk through different ways to value the business, before finishing with another way to think about what the stock is really worth.
Find out why Central Garden & Pet’s -20.0% return over the last year is lagging behind its peers.
A Discounted Cash Flow model estimates what a business is worth by projecting the cash it can generate in the future and then discounting those cash flows back to today value. For Central Garden & Pet, the model uses a 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity approach, focusing on the cash available to shareholders after expenses and reinvestment.
The company last twelve months Free Cash Flow stands at about $287.5 million. Analyst forecasts and subsequent extrapolations suggest free cash flow rising into the mid to high $100 million range over the next decade, reaching roughly $340.1 million by 2035. These projections blend specific analyst estimates through 2030 with more gradual growth assumptions thereafter.
When all those future cash flows are discounted back to today, the model produces an intrinsic value of about $106.04 per share. Compared with the current share price, this implies the stock is roughly 69.8% undervalued based on cash flow fundamentals alone, pointing to a notable gap between market sentiment and DCF based value.
Result: UNDERVALUED
Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Central Garden & Pet is undervalued by 69.8%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 914 more undervalued stocks based on cash flows.
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CENT Discounted Cash Flow as at Dec 2025
Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Central Garden & Pet.
For profitable companies like Central Garden & Pet, the price to earnings ratio is a straightforward way to see how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of current earnings. In general, businesses with faster, more reliable growth and lower risk tend to deserve a higher PE, while those with slower growth or more uncertainty typically trade on lower multiples.
Central Garden & Pet currently trades on a PE of about 12.26x, which sits below both the Household Products industry average of around 16.95x and a peer group average of roughly 16.58x. To go a step further, Simply Wall St calculates a Fair Ratio of 14.24x, an estimate of the PE the company could trade on given its earnings growth prospects, profitability profile, size, industry and specific risks.
This Fair Ratio framework is more tailored than a simple peer or industry comparison because it adjusts for the company’s own fundamentals rather than assuming all players deserve the same multiple. With the current PE of 12.26x sitting below the Fair Ratio of 14.24x, Central Garden & Pet appears undervalued on an earnings multiple basis.
Result: UNDERVALUED
NasdaqGS:CENT PE Ratio as at Dec 2025
PE ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover 1465 companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.
Earlier we mentioned that there is an even better way to understand valuation, so let us introduce you to Narratives, a simple way to connect your view of Central Garden & Pet story with the numbers behind its future revenue, earnings and margins, and ultimately its fair value. A Narrative is your own explanation of what is driving the business, turned into a structured forecast that links the company strategy, risks and opportunities to a financial model, and then to a clear estimate of what the stock is worth today. On Simply Wall St, Narratives are an easy, accessible tool available on the Community page, where millions of investors share and compare their stories and resulting fair values, helping you see when your view says “buy” or “sell” by comparing Fair Value to the current Price. These Narratives update dynamically as new earnings, news or industry data arrives, so your decisions can move with the story, not lag behind it. For example, one Central Garden & Pet Narrative might see premium pet trends and margin gains justifying a fair value near $50, while a more cautious Narrative focused on weather and margin risks might land closer to $35.
Do you think there’s more to the story for Central Garden & Pet? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying!
NasdaqGS:CENT 1-Year Stock Price Chart
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include CENT.
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