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Post Holdings

POST
44
Packaged Foods · Consumer Defensive
Also trades as: 0KJZ.L
Price
$76.97
-1.72 (-2.18%)
Market Cap
$3.49B
Winston Score
44
Winston is serious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 10, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026

Share count falling — buybacks

3.7% over 4y

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

Diluted shares outstanding: 65.3M (2021) → 62.9M (2025)

Post Holdings makes packaged food products that people buy at grocery stores. Its best-known products are breakfast cereals like Honey Bunches of Oats, Grape-Nuts, and Malt-O-Meal. The company also sells eggs, potatoes, and protein-based foods to restaurants and foodservice customers, making it more than just a cereal brand.

Post earns money by selling its products to grocery retailers, warehouse clubs, and foodservice distributors. It operates mainly in the United States, with some international sales, and generates roughly $8 billion in annual revenue. The company has built a cost advantage in private-label and value cereals, which gives it some pricing flexibility in that segment. The main risk Post faces is that consumers are eating less traditional breakfast cereal over time, so the company has been using acquisitions to expand into faster-growing food categories like eggs and foodservice, which now make up a large share of its business.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

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

Revenue Growth

-1.8% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

-27.7% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Earnings declining

R&D Spend

$32M/ year

Rising (+10% vs prior year)

0.4% of revenue

Below sector average (2%)

R&D investment increasing — building for the future

Insider Activity

21.9%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$266M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

→ Burn rate stable

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

Revenue declining

Post Holdings'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
29.1%
Modest — 29.1% gross margin
Operating Margin
9.7%
Modest — 9.7% operating margin
ROCE
1.8%
Weak — 1.8% 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
+6.2%
Slow sales growth (+6.2% YoY)
EPS YoY
-6.6%
Earnings shrinking (-6.6% YoY)

Slight earnings drop. Typical near a cyclical low.

EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
339%
Turns 339% of profit into real cash
FCF Margin
6.6%
Modest free cash flow (6.6%)

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

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Stability

Debt / Equity
2.48
Heavy debt load (2.48)
Interest Cover
2.04x
Tight — interest eats into profit (2.0x)

Interest coverage between 1 and 3. Profits cover interest, but with little room to spare.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
12.9x
Attractive valuation — P/E 12.9

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

P/E vs Forward
+1.2
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow — slightly cheaper on forward P/E

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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