Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG

LISN.SW

Food Confectioners · Consumer Defensive

Also trades as: LDSVF · 0QKN.L

Price

CHF 94500.00

-500.00 (-0.53%)

Market Cap

CHF 21.15B

Exchange

SIX Swiss Exchange

Winston Score

Winston is serious

Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.

Data as of Aug 12, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026

Share count falling — buybacks

−4.6% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 243K (2021) → 232K (2025)

Lindt & Sprüngli is a Swiss company that makes chocolate. It owns well-known brands including Lindt, Ghirardelli, and Russell Stover, and sells boxed chocolates, truffles, and chocolate bars to everyday consumers around the world. Founded in 1845, it is one of the oldest and most recognized premium chocolate makers globally.

The company makes money by selling its products through grocery stores, its own retail shops, and online channels. It operates primarily in Europe and North America, with over 500 Lindt chocolate shops worldwide, and generates roughly $5 billion in annual revenue. Its main competitive advantages are strong brand recognition and pricing power in the premium chocolate segment, which helps explain its 50% gross margin. The biggest risk the business faces is rising cocoa prices, which have surged in recent years and put pressure on production costs across the entire chocolate industry.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

-1.7% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

-89.8% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Earnings declining

R&D Spend

$21M/ year

↑ Rising (+10% vs prior year)

0.4% of revenue

Below sector average (2%)

R&D investment increasing — building for the future

Insider Activity

2.2%ownership

→ Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$669M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Revenue declining

Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Gross Margin

0.0%

Thin — 0.0% gross margin

Operating Margin

11.2%

Modest — 11.2% operating margin

ROCE

4.1%

Weak — 4.1% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY

+3.8%

Slow sales growth (+3.8% YoY)

EPS YoY

-68.7%

Earnings shrinking (-68.7% YoY)

Earnings per share down more than 10%. Either a bad year, or a real decline.

EPS Consistency

6/8 quarters

Earnings grew in most of the last 8 quarters

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

71%

Modest — 71% of profit becomes cash

FCF Margin

4.2%

Thin free cash flow (4.2%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

0.27

Conservative — low debt load (0.27)

Interest Cover

29.37x

Comfortably covers interest (29.4x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

298.5x

Expensive — P/E 298.5

P/E over 35. The market is pricing in heavy, sustained growth.

P/E vs Forward

+273.2

GROWING

Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (298.5 → 25.3)

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Dividends

Dividend Yield

1.90%

Small dividend — 1.90% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend Growth

+50.0%

Dividend growing fast (50.0% YoY)

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