NGVCNatural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc.
Is the business good?
A genuinely good business: earnings fully cash-backed (1.4×) and margins widening.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
Efficiency-driven, thin margins turned over fast (the retail model). ROE 21% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is NGVC?
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. keeps 4.7% of every revenue dollar as operating profit, against 1.9% for the median Grocery Stores name.
Operating margin · Grocery Stores median 1.9% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.42×
Cash conversion · 1.38× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- −0.21%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
- Gross margin
- 30%
Gross margin
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 2.7% |
| FY2021 | 2.7% |
| FY2022 | 2.8% |
| FY2023 | 2.8% |
| FY2024 | 3.8% |
| FY2025 | 4.7% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 30%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 4.7%
- Net margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 3.5%
- Free cash flow margin
- 1.7%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.34B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $23M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $48M
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Customers and suppliers
Who buys from NGVC and who it buys from, as the companies report it.
None disclosed.
- One supplier69%
Share of purchases · FY2025 10-K
A company has to disclose every customer behind 10% or more of its revenue. Each share comes from the latest annual report of the company that states it and shows on both companies’ pages; NGVC’s own figures are from its FY2025 10-K. Smaller customers and suppliers go unreported.