Lifeway Foods (LWAY) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Lifeway Foods, Inc. is a food and beverage company that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes cultured and probiotic products. The company is best known for Lifeway Kefir, a fermented, cultured milk beverage available in a range of flavors and formulations, including low-fat, nonfat and lactose-free options.

Its product portfolio also includes ProBugs kefir for children, non-dairy kefir, drinkable yogurt, European-style farmer cheese, sour cream and other cultured dairy products. Lifeway markets its products under the Lifeway and ProBugs brands and distributes them through grocery stores, natural and specialty food retailers, club stores, mass merchants and online channels.

Founded in 1986 by Michael and Ludmila Smolyansky, Lifeway Foods is headquartered in Morton Grove, Illinois. Julie Smolyansky, the founders’ daughter, has served as the company’s president and chief executive officer since 2002. The company primarily serves consumers in the United States, with selected products also available in international markets.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $20.62 to $21.20
• 50-Day Range: $21.10 to $31.50
• 52-Week Range: $17.31 to $32.71
• Volume: 154,788 shs
• Average Volume: 121,243 shs
• Market Capitalization: $317.31 million
• P/E Ratio: 30.00
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $34.00
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Lifeway Foods Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Lifeway Foods scored higher than 56% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 91st out of 167 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.1 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Buy

Consensus Rating

Lifeway Foods has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 2 buy ratings, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Lifeway Foods has a consensus price target of $34.00, representing about 61.7% upside from its current price of $21.03.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Lifeway Foods has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: N/A

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Lifeway Foods is 30.04, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.94.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Lifeway Foods is 30.04, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 13.91.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Lifeway Foods has a P/B Ratio of 3.73. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.17% of the float of Lifeway Foods has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Lifeway Foods has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 5.21.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Lifeway Foods has recently increased by 20.27%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: N/A

Dividend Yield

Lifeway Foods does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

Lifeway Foods does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

News and Social Media

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: N/A

MarketBeat Follows

2 people have added Lifeway Foods to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Balanced

Cluster Insider Buying

2 insiders have purchased shares of Lifeway Foods in the last three months. Multiple insiders buying is a strong bullish signal.

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Lifeway Foods insiders have sold just slightly more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $6,176,730.00 in company stock and sold $7,313,366.00 in company stock. It is common for insiders to sell company stock at intervals simply to diversify their holdings.

Percentage Held by Insiders

18.58% of the stock of Lifeway Foods is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

36.39% of the stock of Lifeway Foods is held by institutions.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/13/2026
• Today: 10/05/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/12/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Food Products
• Sub-Industry: Packaged Foods & Meats
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:LWAY
• CIK: 814586
• Web: www.lifewaykefir.com
• Phone: (847) 967-1010
• Fax: 847-967-6558
• Employees: 293
• Year Founded: 1986

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Lifeway Foods: $34.00
• High Price Target: $35.00
• Low Price Target: $32.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +61.9%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 4 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $0.70
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 30.00
• Forward P/E Ratio: N/A
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $13.86 million
• Net Margins: 4.48%
• Pretax Margin: 6.38%
• Return on Equity: 12.66%
• Return on Assets: 9.29%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.26
• Current Ratio: 2.09
• Quick Ratio: 1.47

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $212.50 million
• Price / Sales: 1.49
• Cash Flow: $1.16 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 18.11
• Book Value: $5.64 per share
• Price / Book: 3.72

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 15,110,000
• Free Float: 12,300,000
• Market Cap: $317.31 million
• Optionable: Not Optionable
• Beta: 0.47