The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: The Kraft Heinz Company

Updated on October 16, 2026 · accounts published on August 5, 2026

A shrinking food business that has slipped into operating losses

Kraft Heinz trades at 0.8× book with an 17 % free cash flow yield over the last 12 months, while its operating margin sits at −13 %.

• Is Kraft Heinz expensive or cheap? Over the last 12 months it yields 18 % in free cash flow and trades 12 % below its 52-week high.
• How is the business doing? The operating margin is −13 % over the last 12 months, against a 6.9 % average for fiscal 2014-2025.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Net debt of $15.58 per share in fiscal 2025 equals 64 % of the current share price.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Kraft Heinz reports on November 4, 2026; analysts expect EPS of $0.43, and it has beaten 8 straight quarters.
• Is it as stable as the sector promises? Kraft Heinz misses the sector's 15 % ROE bar at −8.4 %, and its dividend has shrunk 5.5 % a year over a decade.

Is Kraft Heinz expensive or cheap?

With losses on the income statement, a P/E says little here, so the useful yardsticks are cash and assets. Kraft Heinz trades at 0.8× book value over the last 12 months and offers an 17 % free cash flow yield. In most cases those numbers would point to a cheap stock. The share price sits 12 % below its 52-week high of $27.62 and is down 3 % over the past year, nearer the $21.21 low than the top. The market is pricing in doubt: the low multiple reflects shrinking sales and negative margins at least as much as it signals a bargain.

How is the business doing?

Revenue fell 3.5 % over the last 12 months and EPS dropped 318 %, which pushed the company into losses. The operating margin of −13 % compares with a 6.9 % average across the 12 fiscal years from 2014 to 2025. Fiscal 2025 was worse still at −19 %, so the last 12 months show some recovery from that low. ROIC stands at −4.6 %, 13.5 points below the 8.9 % median of 153 consumer defensive companies. Returns were modest even before the losses: ROIC did not exceed 10 % in any of the last ten fiscal years (2016-2025).

How strong is the balance sheet?

Leverage looks moderate on paper, with debt to equity of 0.5 over the last 12 months, but equity is a thin cushion for a company that is losing money. Net debt in fiscal 2025 was $15.58 per share ($18.67 of debt minus $3.10 of cash), equal to 64 % of the current price. The Altman Z-score of 0.5 sits in the danger zone, a current ratio of 1.1 leaves little short-term slack and the Piotroski score is a middling 5 of 9. Earnings are negative, so the 7 % dividend yield depends on free cash flow, which at 17 % currently covers it.

What to expect from the next earnings?

Kraft Heinz publishes its next results on November 4, 2026, and analysts expect EPS of $0.43 for the quarter. The company has beaten EPS estimates in each of the last 8 quarters. The most recent was on August 5, 2026: $0.56 reported against $0.54 expected, a 3.5 % beat. Over the last 30 days the 2026 EPS consensus has held at $2.05 among 11 analysts, and revenue estimates have barely moved. Sentiment is cautious: of 35 analysts, 4 recommend buying, 20 holding and 11 selling, so sellers outnumber buyers almost three to one.

Is it as stable as the sector promises?

Investors own consumer defensive companies for steady margins and a dividend that grows every year. That is why the sector is judged on gross margin, ROE, dividend growth, payout and leverage, and not on sales growth. Kraft Heinz is borderline on gross margin: 33 % in fiscal 2025 against a stability threshold of 35 %. It fails on ROE, at −8.4 % over the last 12 months against a healthy 15 %, and on dividend growth, at −5.5 % a year from 2015 to 2025 against 6 %. The payout and net debt to EBITDA tests technically pass, but only because negative earnings make both ratios negative.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.