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Hormel Foods key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Hormel Foods had return on equity of 6.0%, an operating margin of 5.9%, debt equal to 36.2% of equity and a current ratio of 2.47. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Oct 20092010Oct 20102011Oct 20112012Oct 20122013Oct 20132014Oct 20142015Oct 20152016Oct 20162017Oct 20172018Oct 20182019Oct 20192020Oct 20202021Oct 20212022Oct 20222023Oct 20232024Oct 20242025Oct 2025LTMJul 2026
Gross margin16.8%17.2%16.9%16.2%16.1%16.8%19.5%22.7%21.8%20.7%19.8%19.0%16.9%17.4%16.5%17.0%15.6%15.7%
Operating margin———9.5%9.2%10.0%11.5%13.9%13.9%12.4%12.6%11.5%9.9%10.5%8.9%9.0%5.9%4.7%
Net margin5.2%5.5%6.0%6.1%6.0%6.5%7.4%9.3%9.2%10.6%10.3%9.5%8.0%8.0%6.6%6.8%4.0%2.8%
Free-cash-flow margin7.1%5.5%5.0%4.7%6.1%6.3%9.2%8.2%8.9%8.9%6.6%7.9%6.8%6.9%6.4%8.5%4.4%6.4%
Return on equity16.2%17.5%18.8%18.3%17.2%17.4%18.0%21.1%18.0%19.2%17.0%14.7%13.6%13.8%10.4%10.2%6.0%4.4%
Return on assets9.3%10.2%11.4%11.4%11.1%11.6%11.8%13.6%12.1%13.4%12.0%10.1%8.0%7.7%5.9%6.0%3.6%2.6%
Asset turnover1.771.861.901.871.851.801.601.451.311.261.171.071.010.960.910.890.900.91
Current ratio2.301.692.572.952.612.231.701.931.921.802.142.382.082.471.432.322.471.88
Debt to equity16.5%14.6%9.4%8.9%7.6%6.9%10.9%5.6%5.1%11.2%4.2%20.3%47.7%43.8%42.8%35.8%36.2%36.4%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)———60.8x64.7x73.3x81.4x102.9x100.7x44.5x66.2x52.2x25.9x21.0x14.6x13.2x9.2x7.3x
Effective tax rate34.5%36.0%33.3%33.4%33.6%34.3%35.0%32.4%33.7%14.3%19.1%18.5%19.3%21.7%21.8%22.3%28.0%34.4%
R&D as % of revenue0.4%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.3%0.3%0.3%0.4%0.4%0.4%0.3%0.3%0.3%0.3%0.3%0.3%0.3%—
SG&A as % of revenue8.7%8.4%7.8%7.4%7.2%7.0%8.0%9.2%8.3%8.8%7.7%7.9%7.5%7.1%7.8%8.4%8.2%9.1%
Capital spending as % of revenue1.5%1.2%1.2%1.6%1.2%1.7%1.6%2.7%2.4%4.1%3.1%3.8%2.0%2.2%2.2%2.2%2.6%2.6%
Free cash flow ÷ net income134.7%100.0%83.0%77.1%100.9%97.5%123.6%88.1%96.0%84.2%64.3%83.8%84.7%85.6%98.0%125.5%111.7%227.9%
Dividends ÷ net income29.6%27.6%27.4%30.4%33.1%33.7%36.6%33.3%40.9%38.3%44.7%53.7%57.6%55.8%74.7%76.4%132.4%187.0%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow30.2%45.2%71.9%55.4%46.2%44.6%32.5%49.0%54.2%51.0%97.2%65.7%70.6%65.2%77.8%60.9%118.5%82.1%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

5 of 6 checks passed · July 26, 2026
What it owns · $13.3bn
Short-term assets $3.5bnLonger-term assets $9.8bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $9.7bn
Short-term liabilities $1.9bnShareholders' equity $7.8bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $3.5bn of assets due within a year against $1.9bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
  • More cash than debt $840m of cash against $2.9bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 36% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 47% to 36% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $1.1bn of operating cash flow against $2.9bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $574m against $79m of interest.

From Hormel Foods's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

64 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Hormel Foods's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 17 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 13.0% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 8 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 17.3%, moving by 2.1 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 9 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 10.2%; its worst year was 4.7%.

  • Cash conversion 14 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 7.8% of revenue.

  • Discipline 17 / 20

    The diluted share count rose 0.6% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.2% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Hormel Foods's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Hormel Foods.