Pricesmart Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2026, Pricesmart Inc had return on equity of 12.3%, an operating margin of 4.4%, debt equal to 11.6% of equity and a current ratio of 1.24. 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.

Pricesmart Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2010Aug 2010	2011Aug 2011	2012Aug 2012	2013Aug 2013	2014Aug 2014	2015Aug 2015	2016Aug 2016	2017Aug 2017	2018Aug 2018	2019Aug 2019	2020Aug 2020	2021Aug 2021	2022Aug 2022	2023Aug 2023	2024Aug 2024	2025Aug 2025	2026Aug 2026
Gross margin	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	15.9%	16.1%	16.4%	16.7%	—	—	17.2%	17.2%	17.4%	17.7%
Operating margin	5.3%	5.2%	5.3%	5.5%	5.4%	5.2%	4.7%	4.5%	4.0%	3.6%	3.7%	4.4%	4.1%	4.2%	4.5%	4.4%	4.4%
Net margin	3.5%	3.6%	3.3%	3.7%	3.7%	3.2%	3.1%	3.0%	2.3%	2.3%	2.3%	2.7%	2.6%	2.5%	2.8%	2.8%	2.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	2.4%	1.7%	1.8%	2.6%	0.8%	0.8%	2.2%	−0.4%	0.7%	0.9%	4.8%	0.4%	0.0%	2.6%	0.8%	2.0%	1.6%
Return on equity	14.7%	17.3%	17.0%	18.7%	18.0%	16.0%	14.7%	13.5%	10.1%	9.4%	9.6%	11.2%	11.0%	10.4%	12.5%	12.5%	12.3%
Return on assets	8.6%	10.0%	9.7%	10.8%	10.5%	9.2%	8.5%	8.0%	6.2%	5.8%	5.3%	5.8%	5.9%	5.7%	6.9%	6.9%	6.8%
Asset turnover	2.44	2.77	2.92	2.95	2.86	2.91	2.78	2.64	2.65	2.57	2.25	2.15	2.31	2.31	2.44	2.46	2.41
Current ratio	1.34	1.35	1.37	1.37	1.33	1.35	1.39	1.40	1.40	1.21	1.23	1.31	1.33	1.38	1.22	1.34	1.24
Debt to equity	19.1%	18.8%	18.8%	15.2%	16.7%	23.0%	16.4%	15.0%	13.5%	12.2%	23.7%	14.1%	14.9%	13.4%	12.3%	15.9%	11.6%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	26.9x	22.6x	20.4x	30.1x	31.8x	22.7x	23.2x	20.1x	24.9x	29.2x	16.1x	21.9x	17.4x	16.7x	17.0x	20.2x	15.6x
Effective tax rate	31.5%	30.7%	34.1%	31.6%	30.8%	34.8%	32.6%	31.7%	39.3%	33.8%	32.5%	33.3%	33.2%	35.4%	—	28.4%	26.8%
Capital spending as % of revenue	3.6%	2.8%	2.6%	3.0%	4.7%	3.2%	2.7%	4.5%	3.1%	4.3%	3.0%	3.1%	3.0%	3.2%	3.4%	3.0%	3.6%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	66.6%	46.3%	55.0%	72.0%	20.6%	23.9%	72.6%	−13.5%	28.7%	41.4%	203.5%	14.3%	1.1%	105.1%	28.1%	69.8%	57.9%
Dividends ÷ net income	30.2%	29.0%	26.8%	21.5%	22.8%	23.7%	24.0%	23.5%	28.6%	29.6%	27.6%	22.4%	25.4%	26.1%	47.6%	26.2%	25.8%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	45.4%	62.8%	48.7%	29.9%	110.3%	99.1%	33.0%	—	99.5%	71.5%	13.5%	157.1%	>999%	36.1%	357.7%	44.0%	54.0%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Pricesmart Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2025 Q1Nov 2024	2025 Q2Feb 2025	2025 Q3May 2025	2025 Q4Aug 2025	2026 Q1Nov 2025	2026 Q2Feb 2026	2026 Q3May 2026	2026 Q4Aug 2026
Gross margin	17.4%	17.1%	17.4%	17.4%	17.7%	17.7%	17.7%	17.6%
Operating margin	4.6%	4.8%	4.3%	4.0%	4.6%	5.0%	4.4%	3.8%
Net margin	3.0%	3.2%	2.7%	2.4%	2.9%	3.3%	2.7%	2.5%
Free-cash-flow margin	0.8%	3.9%	1.1%	1.9%	2.4%	0.8%	0.2%	3.2%
Current ratio	1.26	1.25	1.28	1.34	1.33	1.29	1.28	1.24
Debt to equity	10.0%	9.1%	8.5%	15.0%	13.8%	12.2%	12.9%	11.5%

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

7 of 7 checks passed · August 31, 2026

What it owns · $2.6bn

Short-term assets $1.1bnLonger-term assets $1.5bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $2.6bn

Short-term liabilities $855mLonger-term liabilities $293mShareholders' equity $1.5bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.1bn of assets due within a year against $855m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $1.1bn short-term assets against $293m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $221m of cash against $168m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 12% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 13% to 12% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $308m of operating cash flow against $168m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $261m against $17m of interest.

From Pricesmart 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

47 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Pricesmart'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 5.9% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 8 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 16.5%, moving by 0.7 percentage points (standard deviation) across 5 years.
Durability 10 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 4.3%; its worst year was 3.6%.
Cash conversion 9 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 9 of 10 years, at a median 0.9% of revenue.
Discipline 17 / 20

The diluted share count fell 0.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.4% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (52 before it).

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 Pricesmart Inc's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 27, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Pricesmart Inc.