Empire Company Limited (EMP-A.TO) stock analysis

In our weekly check, Empire Company Limited is graded C (A to F). Of 25 checks on debt, profit, cash flow and trend: 12 pass, warnings: 11, red flags: 2.

About Empire Company Limited

Empire Company Limited is a Consumer Defensive company (Grocery Stores) based in Canada, listed on TSX as EMP-A.TO.

What our checks show for EMP-A.TO

Red flags

• The net margin fell by 1.8 points over 5 years, to 0.7%: the company keeps less of each sale as profit.
• The net margin is only 0.7%: little room if costs rise.

Warning signs

• Net debt is 4.1x a year of EBITDA (debt/equity 1.52). That limits room in a downturn and raises refinancing risk.
• Operating profit covers interest only 4 times: a weak year could make the payments hard.
• Analysts expect only about 2.5% a year of growth in revenue.
• Revenue grew only 1.7% a year over the last 3 years.
• Earnings per share fell 28.2% a year over the last 3 years.
• Net profit fell 31.7% a year over the last 3 years.
• Free cash flow is only 3.9% of revenue.
• The dividend takes 95% of profit: little cushion if profit falls.
• The stock has fallen as much as 53% from a peak. Would you have held through that?
• Recovering from its deepest fall took about 2.3 years.
• Return on capital (ROCE) is only 9.8%.

Strengths

• Operating cash flow is 9.55x net profit: the profit arrives as real cash.
• Analysts expect earnings per share to grow about 67.7% a year over the next years.
• Analysts expect the net margin to improve by 2 points from today's 0.7%.
• Beta 0.31: the stock usually moves less than the market.
• The share count fell by 7.9% in 2 years: the company buys back its own shares.
• Pay in shares is only 0.7% of free cash flow.

Next earnings report: 2026-12-10

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Questions

What grade does Empire Company Limited (EMP-A.TO) have?

In our weekly check, Empire Company Limited is graded C (A to F). Of 25 checks on debt, profit, cash flow and trend: 12 pass, warnings: 11, red flags: 2. The grade is a risk check, not a buy or sell recommendation.

What are the main risks of EMP-A.TO stock?

This week's biggest flags for Empire Company Limited: Margins falling, Thin margins, High debt. In total 13 of 25 checks show a warning or a red flag.

What does Empire Company Limited do?

Empire Company Limited is a Consumer Defensive company (Grocery Stores) based in Canada, listed on TSX as EMP-A.TO.

When does Empire Company Limited report earnings next?

The next earnings report is expected on 2026-12-10. We re-run the checks every week, so the grade can change after it.

The grade is a risk check, not a price forecast, and not investment advice. In our 10-year test (S&P 500, 2016-2026), stocks we graded A or B fell more than 30% 2-3 times less often than D or F, without a lower average return.

Updated 2026-10-31

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