Lifeway Foods, Inc. key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Lifeway Foods, Inc. had return on equity of 17.6%, an operating margin of 7.6%, debt equal to 0.0% of equity and a current ratio of 2.23. 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.

Lifeway Foods, Inc.: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Gross margin	34.5%	30.4%	29.7%	25.4%	22.2%	21.8%	28.3%	25.8%	25.0%	23.6%	26.4%	24.1%	18.9%	26.5%	26.0%	27.4%	25.6%
Operating margin	10.7%	7.3%	9.9%	7.4%	3.3%	3.2%	4.9%	−0.4%	−3.0%	−2.1%	4.8%	4.9%	1.7%	10.6%	7.4%	7.6%	6.5%
Net margin	6.2%	4.1%	6.3%	4.6%	1.5%	1.4%	2.8%	−0.3%	−3.0%	0.5%	3.2%	2.8%	0.7%	7.1%	4.8%	6.5%	4.5%
Free-cash-flow margin	5.8%	3.7%	5.8%	−2.4%	1.1%	3.5%	1.5%	−1.3%	−0.4%	2.8%	4.4%	3.1%	0.4%	7.9%	3.4%	−7.7%	−11.3%
Return on equity	10.8%	8.3%	15.1%	12.1%	4.5%	4.4%	7.4%	−0.7%	−6.9%	1.1%	7.2%	6.9%	1.9%	21.0%	13.6%	17.6%	12.8%
Return on assets	7.0%	5.5%	10.7%	8.5%	3.1%	3.1%	5.3%	−0.5%	−5.1%	0.8%	5.5%	5.0%	1.3%	15.1%	10.5%	14.1%	9.1%
Asset turnover	1.12	1.35	1.71	1.86	2.05	2.14	1.90	1.83	1.70	1.65	1.73	1.80	2.02	2.13	2.17	2.17	2.04
Current ratio	1.89	2.36	3.17	2.79	2.83	2.50	2.94	1.87	2.54	2.02	2.85	2.41	2.07	2.30	2.81	2.23	2.09
Debt to equity	26.7%	24.4%	15.4%	25.0%	22.1%	19.4%	16.5%	20.3%	0.0%	6.3%	5.9%	11.2%	11.1%	6.6%	0.0%	0.0%	25.9%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	17.9x	20.5x	49.8x	39.6x	15.3x	18.7x	27.7x	n/m	n/m	n/m	41.7x	50.7x	8.8x	44.3x	131.9x	—	48.4x
Effective tax rate	43.8%	40.9%	36.3%	36.5%	53.4%	50.6%	38.3%	—	—	63.3%	33.1%	41.0%	49.8%	31.7%	35.4%	29.6%	29.7%
Capital spending as % of revenue	3.8%	2.1%	1.6%	7.8%	2.8%	1.5%	2.6%	4.5%	2.7%	1.3%	1.9%	1.6%	2.4%	2.7%	3.6%	12.9%	15.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	93.5%	91.2%	92.5%	−52.9%	72.0%	240.9%	53.7%	—	—	581.2%	138.9%	110.0%	58.2%	110.8%	69.4%	−118.4%	−251.1%
Dividends ÷ net income	—	—	−20.4%	26.2%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	78.7%	45.4%	−10.9%	—	—	32.5%	39.5%	—	—	20.4%	9.0%	43.5%	742.9%	0.0%	—	—	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Lifeway Foods, Inc.: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Sept 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Gross margin	25.7%	25.3%	23.9%	28.6%	28.7%	27.8%	27.5%	19.5%
Operating margin	9.1%	1.5%	3.4%	10.8%	8.8%	6.8%	10.0%	0.9%
Net margin	6.5%	−0.3%	7.7%	7.9%	6.2%	4.6%	7.4%	0.2%
Free-cash-flow margin	12.8%	−8.2%	−5.1%	3.0%	9.8%	−31.5%	−10.6%	−13.2%
Current ratio	2.68	2.81	2.89	3.03	2.30	2.23	2.14	2.09
Debt to equity	0.0%	0.0%	—	—	—	—	—	—

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

3 of 3 checks passed · June 30, 2026

What it owns · $132m

Short-term assets $47mLonger-term assets $85m

What it owes, and who funded it · $132m

Short-term liabilities $23mLonger-term liabilities $25mShareholders' equity $85m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $47m of assets due within a year against $23m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $47m short-term assets against $25m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt Cash or debt not separately reported. Not assessable.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Equity or debt not reported. Not assessable.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Five-year comparison not available. Not assessable.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt Cash flow or debt not reported. Not assessable.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $16m against $325,000 of interest.

From Lifeway Foods, Inc.'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

42 /100

Weak moat

How hard Lifeway 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 8 / 20

Net income has been a median 5.8% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 9 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 25.4%, moving by 2.4 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 0 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 4.5%; its worst year was -4.3%.
Cash conversion 8 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 7 of 10 years, at a median 1.6% of revenue.
Discipline 17 / 20

The diluted share count fell 1.7% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.9% 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 Lifeway Foods, Inc.'s SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Lifeway Foods, Inc.