Lifeway Foods, Inc.
LWAY Consumer Defensive Packaged Foods
Lifeway Foods, Inc.’s revenue for fiscal 2025 (year ended December 2025) was $212.5 million, up 13.7% from fiscal 2024. In the quarter to June 2026, revenue grew 24.1%, EPS fell 96.4% and free cash flow fell 598.8%, each against the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue growth for five consecutive years; insiders bought in the last twelve months.
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Lifeway Foods, Inc. (LWAY) Altman Z-score
Lifeway Foods, Inc.'s Altman Z-score for fiscal 2025 is 15.09, in the safe zone (above 2.99).
Altman Z-score, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Altman Z-score | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 15.09 | (0.80) |
| FY2024 | 15.89 | 6.23 |
| FY2023 | 9.65 | 3.75 |
| FY2022 | 5.90 | 0.63 |
| FY2021 | 5.27 | (1.63) |
| FY2020 | 6.90 | 2.64 |
| FY2019 | 4.26 | (0.01) |
| FY2018 | 4.27 | (3.15) |
| FY2017 | 7.42 | (2.82) |
| FY2016 | 10.24 | 1.35 |
How fiscal 2025’s score is made up
| Component | This year | Year before | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital / total assets | 0.19 | — | 0.23 | |
| Retained earnings / total assets | 0.84 | — | 1.18 | |
| EBIT / total assets | 0.15 | — | 0.51 | |
| Market value of equity / total liabilities | 18.61 | — | 11.17 | |
| Sales / total assets | 2.01 | — | 2.01 | |
| Altman Z-score | Safe zone | 15.09 | ||
| Z″ Variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies (drops the sales/assets term, uses book equity) | Safe zone | 9.59 | ||
How the Altman Z-score works
Z = 1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets (Altman, 1968). The market value of equity is the close on the last trading day of the fiscal year times weighted basic shares.
Z″ = 6.56 × working capital ÷ total assets + 3.26 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 6.72 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 1.05 × book equity ÷ total liabilities (Altman, Hartzell and Peck, 1995), the variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies.
| Zone | Z | Z″ |
|---|---|---|
| Safe zone | above 2.99 | above 2.60 |
| Grey zone | 1.81–2.99 | 1.10–2.60 |
| Distress zone | below 1.81 | below 1.10 |
Not worked out for banks, insurers and REITs, whose balance sheets the model does not describe, nor when a figure is missing or there is no share price in the week to the fiscal year end.
Altman Z-score against peers
| Company | Altman Z-score |
|---|---|
| LWAY Lifeway Foods, Inc. | 15.1× |
| MAMA Mama's Creations, Inc. compare | 13.4× |
| NATR Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc. compare | 5.4× |
| USNA USANA Health Sciences, Inc. compare | 3.6× |
| BGS B&G Foods, Inc. compare | 1.3× |
| BRCC BRC Inc. compare | 1.2× |
| OTLY Oatly Group AB Sponsored ADR compare | −1.9× |
| PRE Prenetics Global Limited compare | — |
| ENHA Enhanced Group Inc. compare | — |
What Altman Z-score is
The Altman Z-Score weighs working capital, retained earnings, operating profit, market value and sales against assets and debts to gauge the risk of distress.
1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets