Valuation
26% of the score
60median 53
Lifeway Foods, Inc. is valued at 21.5x its operating profit, including debt: a rich multiple.
60x
50x
35x
25x
18x
12x
8x
21.5x
Full points at 8x or less, none from 60xfull points
LWAYLifeway Foods, Inc.
$22.43-17% 1Y
$22.43
$17.8052 weeks$32.29
RyuScore
Seven criteria, each scored 0 to 100 on a published scale, weighted into one number.
RyuScore 71 out of 100, Above average
Above average. Lifeway Foods, Inc. scores higher than 78% of the 2,231 companies Ryufin scores.
Carried by return on new capital and capital allocation, with nothing holding it far back.
Consumer Defensive median 63 · all companies 55
How the score has moved
At each fiscal year end, from the reports and price of the time49
71
58
69
62
71
20202021202220232024today
The biggest move was up 22 points from 2020 to 2021, mostly return on new capital.
Return on capital
18% of the score
57median 24
Over 7 years the business earned 10% a year after tax on the capital it uses.
2%
8%
15%
25%
10%
None at 2% or less, full points from 25%full points
7 years agolatest 16%
Return on new capital
16% of the score
100median 33
For every dollar of operating profit earned over 6 years, yearly profit grew by 18 cents. New capital earned 29%, and 61% of profit went back into the business.
-5%
12%
18%
None at minus 5 cents, full points from 12 centsfull points
Capital allocation
14% of the score
80median 63
How management spends the money: shares bought back or issued, and whether assets grow faster than the business they serve.
Share countDown 0.3% a year over 5 years: buybacks
665%
-3%
-0.3%
0 pointsfull points
Assets against salesAssets grew 12% a year, sales 16%
10012%
-2%
-4.3%
0 pointsfull points
Cycle position
12% of the score
51median 63
Today's operating margin of 6.5% is 1.18x its normal 5.5%: above its usual level. Normal is half the 10 year median, half the last four years, so a margin that has held is not taken for a peak.
2x
1.5x
1x
0.7x
1.2x
A trough earns points, a peak costs themfull points
10 years agonow 6.5%
Balance sheet
8% of the score
100median 50
What the debt weighs against the profit that has to carry it.
Interest coverOperating profit covers interest 48x
1001.5x
12x
48.4x
0 pointsfull points
Earnings quality
6% of the score
62median 90
Whether the reported profit arrives as cash, and whether the accounts show the usual signs of stretching.
Cash against profitOperating cash flow was 1.19x profit over 3 years
860.7x
1x
1.3x
1.2x
0 pointsfull points
AccrualsProfit ran ahead of cash by 3% of assets
388%
0%
-8%
3%
0 pointsfull points
How the RyuScore works
Each criterion earns 0 to 100 points on the scale drawn under it, and the RyuScore is their average weighted 26, 18, 16, 14, 12, 8 and 6. Scales bend in the company's favour between their ends, so an ordinary figure is never already near zero. Where a criterion cannot be measured from the filings it is taken out and the remaining weights scale up; a company needs 60% of the weight covered, and always a price, to get a score.
Built from the company's annual and quarterly filings with the SEC and today's share price. Banks, insurers and property trusts are not scored: their debt is their raw material, so these yardsticks mean something else there. Figures as of 2026-06-30, latest annual report FY2025.