Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) Releases FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

05 Feb 2026, 02:30 by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets Daily

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT – Get Free Report) issued an update on its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 2.700- for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 2.770. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Central Garden & Pet Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ CENT traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $35.11. The company had a trading volume of 83,373 shares, compared to its average volume of 63,738. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.93 and a 200 day moving average of $33.78. Central Garden & Pet has a 1-year low of $28.77 and a 1-year high of $41.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.73.

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $617.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.62 million. Central Garden & Pet had a net margin of 5.20% and a return on equity of 11.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. Central Garden & Pet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.700- EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Central Garden & Pet will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research report on Monday, December 29th. CJS Securities raised Central Garden & Pet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Central Garden & Pet in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Central Garden & Pet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Central Garden & Pet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.50.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Central Garden & Pet

Key Stories Impacting Central Garden & Pet

Here are the key news stories impacting Central Garden & Pet this week:

Positive Sentiment: Q1 EPS beat expectations — CENT reported $0.21 EPS versus analyst estimates of ~$0.12–$0.11, showing earnings resilience. MarketBeat Q1 Results
Positive Sentiment: Analyst price-target increase — at least one outlet reported an 11.6% boost to a price target, which can support buying interest. MSN Price Target Article
Neutral Sentiment: Conference call / transcript and slide deck published — useful for hearing management detail and modeling assumptions; no immediate surprise flagged in summaries. Seeking Alpha Earnings Call Transcript
Neutral Sentiment: Minor insider activity — an executive exercised options realizing roughly $49K, a routine, small-dollar transaction that is unlikely to move the stock. Benzinga Insider Exercise
Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest report shows effectively zero reported short interest (data quirks likely); not a meaningful short-squeeze signal.
Negative Sentiment: Revenue missed estimates and fell year-over-year — Q1 revenue was $617.4M vs. estimates ~$636.6M, down ~5.9% YoY, indicating soft top-line trends. MarketBeat Revenue Miss
Negative Sentiment: FY 2026 EPS guidance comes in slightly below consensus — management set FY guidance around $2.70 (vs. analyst consensus ~ $2.77), which tempers upside and can pressure multiple and sentiment.

Institutional Trading of Central Garden & Pet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENT. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Central Garden & Pet in the first quarter valued at $255,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 259,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,500,000 after buying an additional 72,977 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Central Garden & Pet by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 51,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after buying an additional 3,199 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Central Garden & Pet in the 1st quarter valued at $7,347,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Central Garden & Pet by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 25,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $897,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.13% of the company’s stock.

About Central Garden & Pet

(Get Free Report)

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ: CENT) is a leading North American specialty retailer, manufacturer and distributor serving the lawn and garden and pet supplies markets. The company operates through two primary segments: Pet and Garden. In the Pet segment, Central Garden & Pet offers a comprehensive range of products including pet food, treats, accessories, training products and habitat solutions for dogs, cats, birds, fish and small animals. The Garden segment encompasses a wide array of lawn, garden and outdoor living products, such as soils, fertilizers, planters, pest control solutions, landscape lighting and watering equipment.