McCormick & Company (MKC)
Forward P/E is 14.90x against a peer median of 12.45x, a ratio of 1.20x — just above the fair range — with trailing P/E 8.31x and PEG 2.94. The growth exception does not apply: revenue growth of 17.4% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR) is far above the group pace, but a PEG of 2.94 is well above the ~1.5 ceiling for that exception. Delivered demand check: the Packaged foods, meats & agriculture group's median growth was 5.8% — demand steady, and McCormick's faster sales growth has not yet turned into earnings growth that supports the premium.
What would change this label: Move to FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E compresses to about 14.3x or below (1.15x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if earnings growth rises enough to bring the PEG to about 1.5 or below while revenue growth stays above 10% year over year. Move to UNDERVALUED if the forward P/E falls to about 11.2x or below (0.90x the peer median) with revenue growth still in double digits.
McCormick sells the spices and seasonings found in most kitchen cupboards, and its sales jumped sharply in the latest quarter. Its shares still cost about 20% more per dollar of expected profit than similar food companies, and profits have not grown as fast as sales. That makes the shares slightly overvalued until earnings catch up.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window McCormick & Company returned -53.89% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for McCormick & Company: -57.9% (2020-09-02 to 2026-10-01). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 14.90x against a peer median of 12.45x, a ratio of 1.20x — just above the fair range — with trailing P/E 8.31x and PEG 2.94. The growth exception does not apply: revenue growth of 17.4% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR) is far above the group pace, but a PEG of 2.94 is well above the ~1.5 ceiling for that exception. Delivered demand check: the Packaged foods, meats & agriculture group's median growth was 5.8% — demand steady, and McCormick's faster sales growth has not yet turned into earnings growth that supports the premium. The company’s forward P/E is 14.9× against a peer median of 12.4×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Packaged foods, meats & agriculture group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 5.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand steady. McCormick grew far faster than that group pace at 17.4%, though its earnings growth lags its sales growth. Latest-quarter sales growth was +17.4% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| McCormick & Company (MKC) | $45.98 | 14.9× | 8.3× |
| SJM | $125.24 | 12.4× | 58.3× |
| HRL | $20.68 | 13.6× | 33.3× |
| GIS | $33.16 | 10.7× | — |
| BG | $101.10 | 9.7× | 19.7× |
| TSN | $55.62 | 16.0× | 34.4× |
| Peer median | 12.4× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Aug 2026 2026-08-31 | $2.0B | 39.3% | $98M | 0.36 | $112M |
| Q/E May 2026 2026-05-31 | $1.9B | 40.2% | $150M | 0.56 | $337M |
| Q/E Feb 2026 2026-02-28 | $1.9B | 37.8% | $1.0B | 3.77 | $18M |
| Q/E Nov 2025 2025-11-30 | $1.9B | 38.9% | $227M | — | — |
| Q/E Aug 2025 2025-08-31 | $1.7B | 37.4% | $226M | 0.84 | $206M |
| Q/E May 2025 2025-05-31 | $1.7B | 37.5% | $175M | 0.65 | $-2M |
| Q/E Feb 2025 2025-02-28 | $1.6B | 37.6% | $162M | 0.60 | $78M |
| Q/E Nov 2024 2024-11-30 | $1.8B | 40.2% | $215M | — | — |
| Q/E Aug 2024 2024-08-31 | $1.7B | 38.7% | $223M | 0.83 | $103M |
| Q/E May 2024 2024-05-31 | $1.6B | 37.7% | $184M | 0.68 | $95M |
| Q/E Feb 2024 2024-02-29 | $1.6B | 37.4% | $166M | 0.62 | $76M |
| Q/E Nov 2023 2023-11-30 | $1.8B | 40.0% | $219M | — | — |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | MCCORMICK & CO INC |
| Chief executive | Brendan Foley (source: https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/mccormick-posts-lower-profit-on-higher-sales-edb1b56d) |
| Sector | Consumer Staples — Packaged Foods & Meats — sells spices, herbs, seasoning mixes and other flavour products to shoppers and food makers |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $45.98 |
| Market value (market cap) | $12.8B — share price times shares outstanding of 269,400,000 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR WeightedAverageNumberOfDilutedSharesOutstanding (latest quarter; dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding series is stale for this filer)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $7.7B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $1.5B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | — |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Aug 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | -53.89% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -57.9% (2020-09-02 to 2026-10-01) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Free cash flow is absent for one or more quarters: either the filer does not separately tag PP&E purchases in its EDGAR cash-flow facts (common for banks), or — for a successor registrant's newest quarter — the cash-flow lines are year-to-date without the prior-quarter rung needed to difference them. Affected quarters are null in the data, never estimated.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000063754.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000063754.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/MKC/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.