Utz Brands Inc
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
Yellow here stands for an open operating question, not for a substance risk — and expressly not for the pending takeover, which as such is no quality argument in either direction. The business works: century-old brands, products in roughly 50 percent of U.S. households, cash from operations rising three years running to $112.2 million, the main loan refinanced to 2032, $119.7 million of revolver available and no going-concern warning. What is open is whether that turns back into a profit: revenue has stood still across three 52-week years, the reported result was negative in two of three, the "transformation costs" recur for a second consecutive year and have more than doubled to $65.4 million, and the $37.7 million of payouts clearly exceeds the $9.4 million of free cash flow. The hardest number is interest coverage: operating income covered interest expense only 45 percent of the way in 2025 ($19.5 million against $43.1 million) and also fell below one times in 2023 — on its own a red criterion. It does not turn red here because cash from operations covers interest 2.6 times over, the main loan does not mature until 2032, $119.7 million of the revolver is free, and neither a going-concern warning nor a covenant breach is reported (fiscal 2025 annual report). If any of those tips over, the light belongs on red. On price: roughly 13 times adjusted earnings is not expensive for a branded food maker of this size, but nearly half of the $14.25 is takeover premium and exists only if two votes and the regulators cooperate — betting on that alone is a bet on a date, not on a business. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Utz Brands is the premium reflex in pure form: a headline about a 91 percent premium covers a snack maker whose revenue has been flat at about $1.44 billion for three years, which reported a $7.7 million net loss in 2025, and whose $216.5 million of adjusted earnings only exists because $65.4 million of transformation costs were stripped out for a second consecutive year. The price on the table is $14.25 per Class A share — across all 143,962,213 units that is $2,051.5 million of equity value and, with debt, about $2.8 billion of enterprise value, or roughly 13 times adjusted earnings. Nothing is done: two stockholder votes and the antitrust clearances are still outstanding, with an outside date of April 20, 2027. Not investment advice.
Business model & brands
A branded food maker more than a hundred years old with documented reach: products in roughly 50 percent of U.S. households, eight plants, about 2,500 direct-store-delivery routes (as of December 28, 2025). The Utz brand alone produced more than $870 million of retail sales in 2025; branded salty snacks grew 4.7 percent and account for 88 percent of revenue, a gain the annual report attributes to the four core brands.
Growth & earnings quality
Revenue has been essentially flat across three 52-week fiscal years ($1,438.2 million, $1,409.2 million, $1,438.8 million), and the reported result was negative in two of the three ($7.7 million loss in 2025, $40.0 million loss in 2023). While adjusted earnings rose to $216.5 million in 2025, unadjusted EBITDA fell to $122.7 million — partly because of $65.4 million of transformation costs in a second consecutive year.
Balance sheet & payouts
Of $2,786.1 million in total assets (March 29, 2026), $1,821.7 million is goodwill and other intangible assets; nothing tangible is left over. Net financial debt is $768.6 million against $43.1 million of interest expense (2025). And in 2025 the company paid $22.3 million of dividends plus $15.4 million to noncontrolling interest holders on just $9.4 million of free cash flow — the third year in a row.
Capital structure & transparency
The dual structure of 88,613,213 Class A and 55,349,000 Class V shares (July 15, 2026) is fully disclosed but systematically misleads the metrics: a market value built on Class A alone omits 38 percent of the company. The merger agreement simultaneously terminates a tax contract dating from the listing for $44 million; $24.0 million was carried on the balance sheet and the annual report projects a total obligation of $56.2 million (December 28, 2025).
Financing & room to act
No going-concern warning and no reported covenant breach: the main loan was refinanced in January 2025 and runs to January 29, 2032, the average rate fell to 5.6 percent in 2025, $577.6 million is hedged with interest rate swaps, and $119.7 million of the $225 million revolver was available on December 28, 2025. Cash from operations rose three years running to $112.2 million.
Worth Noting
Utz Brands reached the research list through the Reddit mentions in our in-house hype scanner (as of July 30, 2026). A live query on July 30, 2026 shows that the stock appears in none of our metric scanners — neither momentum nor quality nor valuation. Those lists are recalculated daily, so the finding is a snapshot.
Market-value warning: price databases often compute Utz's market value from the 88.6 million Class A shares alone (about $1.2 billion on July 30, 2026) and leave out the founding family's 55.3 million Class V shares — 38 percent of the company. This analysis therefore does not use that figure and works only with the documented deal values: $2,051.5 million of equity value, $768.6 million of net financial debt, $2,820.1 million of enterprise value.
Status of the takeover: merger agreement dated July 20, 2026, announced July 21, 2026, terms detailed in the 8-K filed July 22, 2026. None of it is completed; every statement about the outcome is in the conditional. The most recent period report is the quarterly report (10-Q) as of March 29, 2026; Utz announced second-quarter 2026 results for August 5, 2026, without a conference call.
Not to be confused: Utz Brands, Inc. was called Collier Creek Holdings until the 2020 business combination and was a SPAC shell. The buyer, Intersnack Group GmbH & Co. KG of Düsseldorf, Germany, is a private, family-owned company and is not listed; per the press release it had no presence in the U.S. snack market before this transaction.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at UTZ since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 6.80 $ to 14.30 $ · Last price: 14.30 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Packaged Foods
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utz Brands Inc UTZ | 1.2 | – | 23.0 | 25.6 | – | 2.1 | 17.5 |
| JBS N.V. JBS | 39.9 | 11.7 | 6.2 | 11.8 | 2.5 | 13.0 | -16.1 |
| Kraft Heinz Co KHC | 29.1 | – | 13.1 | 33.5 | 20.7 | -3.5 | 2.7 |
| General Mills Inc GIS | 19.9 | 9.2 | 21.6 | 33.7 | 19.2 | -1.9 | -20.8 |
| McCormick & Company Incorporated MKC-V | 13.8 | 8.6 | 13.4 | 38.9 | 17.4 | 1.7 | -18.7 |
| McCormick & Company Incorporated MKC | 13.5 | 8.9 | 13.1 | 38.9 | 17.4 | 1.7 | -23.2 |
| The J. M. Smucker Company SJM | 12.8 | – | 14.8 | 38.0 | 18.5 | 3.7 | 22.5 |
| Hormel Foods Corporation HRL | 11.6 | 28.1 | 15.5 | 15.7 | 11.1 | 1.6 | -12.2 |
| Darling Ingredients Inc DAR | 10.7 | 48.5 | 9.6 | 26.3 | 8.1 | 7.4 | 100.8 |
| Median of companies shown | 13.5 | 10.4 | 13.4 | 33.5 | 17.4 | 1.7 | -12.2 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 772 | 19 | -31 | -0.55 | 16 | 428 | 443 |
| 2019 | 768 | 39 | -16 | -0.29 | 28 | -26 | 779 |
| 2020 | 768 | 39 | -16 | -0.23 | 30 | 553 | 2,599 |
| 2021 | 1,181 | 11 | 21 | 0.25 | 48 | 680 | 2,716 |
| 2022 | 1,408 | 5 | 0 | 0.00 | 48 | 703 | 2,840 |
| 2023 | 1,438 | 16 | -25 | -0.31 | 77 | 670 | 2,747 |
| 2024 | 1,409 | 59 | 16 | 0.19 | 106 | 702 | 2,728 |
| 2025 | 1,439 | 99 | 1 | 0.01 | 112 | 714 | 2,794 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.03 | – | 341 | -3.10 | 0.70 | 54 | 16 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.09 | – | 352 | 1.60 | 2.10 | -20 | -59 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.12 | -48.70 | 367 | 3.00 | 2.90 | 16 | -11 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.17 | – | 378 | 3.40 | -3.90 | 51 | 28 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.03 | -207.00 | 342 | 0.30 | -0.70 | 65 | 51 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.02 | -122.50 | 361 | 2.60 | -0.50 | -12 | -26 |
| 2026: Q2 | -0.11 | -191.70 | 372 | 1.40 | -2.70 | 12 | -2 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 13 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Quality & Balance Sheet
Aktien.Guide
Dividends
Momentum & Trend
Research
Risk & Weakness
- Near 52-Week Low
- Stage 4 (Downtrend)
- Stan Weinstein: Stage 4
- Stan Weinstein: Stage 4B-
- Weakness Cluster
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 0.78 | 0.74 – 0.80 | 1,492 | -5.3% | 10 |
| 12/31/2027 | 0.83 | 0.82 – 0.89 | 1,508 | 7.5% | 9 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Instead of guessing what the stock is worth, we turn the question around: what free cash flow growth has to happen for today’s market value to add up? The assumptions behind it can be moved.
Today’s market value implies roughly 10.3% growth in free cash flow per year over ten years (assumptions: discount rate 10.0%, terminal growth 2.5%).
| Free cash flow (last twelve months) | $51.1M |
|---|---|
| Market cap | $1.24B |
| Free cash flow in year ten | $136.4M |
| Terminal value as a share of market value | 58.1% |
For comparison: over the past five years free cash flow grew by 3.3% per year.
It shows which assumption is built into today’s price, not whether that assumption will hold. Every assumption can be changed with the sliders; the figures move with them.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Utz Brands ist ein Hersteller salziger Snacks ohne KI-Geschäft: In den geprüften Filings (Geschäftsbericht 10-K 2025, Quartalsbericht 10-Q zum 29.03.2026, vier 8-K-Meldungen und das Schedule 13D/A zur Übernahme durch Intersnack) kommt künstliche Intelligenz nur einmal vor — als allgemeiner Risikofaktor zum Schutz des geistigen Eigentums; die genannte „enhanced automation“ betrifft Anlagenautomatisierung in den Werken, kein KI-Produkt und keinen beschriebenen KI-Einsatz.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Our failure to obtain or adequately protect our intellectual property, including in response to developing artificial intelligence technologies, or any change in law that lessens or removes the current legal protections of our intellectual property may diminish our competitiveness and adversely affect our business and financial results."
Wenn wir unser geistiges Eigentum nicht erlangen oder nicht angemessen schützen — auch im Hinblick auf die Entwicklung von Technologien der künstlichen Intelligenz —, oder wenn eine Gesetzesänderung den bestehenden Rechtsschutz unseres geistigen Eigentums verringert oder aufhebt, kann dies unsere Wettbewerbsfähigkeit schmälern und unser Geschäft und unsere Finanzergebnisse beeinträchtigen.
10-K · 2026-02-12 · View SEC filing
„This decision is a key component of the Company’s long-term strategic roadmap, is expected to generate cost savings and should enable the Company to allocate more volume to its larger, more efficient facilities, while driving fixed cost leverage and enhanced automation capabilities across its remaining network."
Diese Entscheidung ist ein Kernbestandteil der langfristigen strategischen Ausrichtung des Unternehmens, soll Kosteneinsparungen erzeugen und es dem Unternehmen ermöglichen, mehr Volumen auf seine größeren, effizienteren Werke zu verteilen, wobei zugleich die Fixkostendegression und erweiterte Automatisierungsfähigkeiten im verbleibenden Werksnetz vorangetrieben werden.
10-K · 2026-02-12 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-02-12 · 10-Q 2026-05-06 · 8-K 2026-07-22 · 8-K 2026-07-21 · 8-K 2026-05-28 · 8-K 2026-05-06 · SCHEDULE 13D/A 2026-07-22
Rated on July 30, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years 0.7%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 1.2%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 3.1%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 2.8%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 22.4%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 31.0%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA 8.4 x EBITDA
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 303 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 4.0%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 18.4%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
5/10The AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 9.3%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 2.4%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% 26.1%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 857.8%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT 10.6x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 8
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 86.2%
- Return on equity > 15% –
- ROCE > 15% 4.0%
- Expected return > 10% 865.1%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
The company
About the Company
Utz Brands, Inc. manufactures branded salty snacks in the United States.
- Employees
- 3,100
- Headquarters
- Hanover, PA
- Address
- 900 High Street, 17331 Hanover, United States
- Phone
- 717 637 6644
- Website
- utzsnacks.com
- IPO Date
- 11/26/2018
- ISIN
- US9180901012
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Howard A. Friedman | CEO, Principal Operating Officer & Director | 1970 |
| William J. Kelley Jr. | Executive VP & CFO | 1965 |
| Theresa Robbins Shea J.D. | Executive VP, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary | 1973 |
| Jennifer Bentz | Executive VP & Chief Marketing Officer | 1971 |
| Trevor Martin C.F.A. | Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Head of Corporate Finance | – |
| Jeremy Stuart | Executive VP of Sales & Chief Customer Officer | 1974 |
| James Sponaugle | Executive VP & Chief People Officer | 1976 |
| Shannan Redcay | Executive Vice President of Manufacturing | 1981 |
| Marek Hejna | Executive Vice President of Finance | – |
| Chad Whyte | Executive Vice President of Supply Chain | 1976 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- 08/05/2026 Utz Brands, Inc. (UTZ): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 07/22/2026 Utz Brands, Inc. (UTZ): Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement; Amendments to Articles of Incorporation or Bylaws; Change in Fiscal Year; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 07/21/2026 Utz Brands, Inc. (UTZ): Other Events; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.