Consumer Non-Cyclicals

Food and Beverage Retail

12 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today31st percentile

Cheaper than in 61% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 22nd to 47th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 35th. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is in its usual range on the multiple, and returns on assets are in their usual range. Free cash flow yield is high (higher than in 91% of quarters). A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Earning about normally

Return on assets ranks at the 56th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 59th and a low of the 35th since 1999. That is close to its usual level, so today's multiple is about right on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely rise: from the 31st percentile today (cheaper than 69% of investable US stocks) to around the 36th (cheaper than 64% of investable US stocks), judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level.

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	56th	59th (median)	35th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	31st	36th	n/a

Food and Beverage Retail's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (60 quarters) and of their low (1). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleUsual rangePercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Cheaper than in 61% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldNear its highestPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 91% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldLower than usualDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 79% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldUsual rangePercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 66% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrUsual rangePercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Higher than in 60% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityMost debt on recordPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 92% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeUsual rangePercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 51% of quarters since 1999.

Food and Beverage Retail stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

Stock	Screen	Acquirer's Multiple	FCF yield	Shareholder yield

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Other Consumer Non-Cyclicals industries

Personal Professional Services cheaper than 89%Food and Beverage Production cheaper than 77%Household Products cheaper than 59%Personal Care and Cleaning Products dearer than 50%Agriculture dearer than 62%General Merchandise Retail dearer than 82%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.