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Australia's largest supermarket chain, also operating the BIG W discount department store business.
Australia's largest supermarket chain, also operating the BIG W discount department store business.
Earns thin margins on very large grocery volume; the Australian food business carries the group, while BIG W and the New Zealand supermarkets are smaller. It shed its liquor and pub operations in 2021 as Endeavour Group. Loyalty data from Everyday Rewards also lets it sell advertising to brands.
In one line: Australia's Kroger.
Moat: wide (scale, distribution, brand). Duopoly-scale grocery distribution network and buying power alongside Coles across Australia.
Headquarters: Sydney, Australia · Founded: 1924 · Employees: 209,000
Size Woolworths (WOW.AX) is an Australia Consumer Staples company (Food Retail) with a market value of $35.8B, the 12th largest of 316 Australia companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at A$42.45 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 28.8%, against +15.6% for the median peer and +4.1% for the Australia market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 14 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 3.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.9%); the operating margin is 4.0% (peer median 4.3%).
Valuation It trades at 28.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 18.5× (most expensive of 13).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 9% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +5%, so the hurdle is +4 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 3.2 points above its cost of capital (6.8% WACC).
Credit Woolworths has 7 bonds outstanding ($3.06B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like BBB at a weighted spread of 117 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 24 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | A$71.5B | A$71.5B | A$69.1B | A$67.9B | A$64.3B |
| Revenue growth | — | +4% | +2% | +6% | — |
| Gross profit | A$17.0B | A$17.0B | A$16.2B | A$18.6B | A$17.2B |
| EBITDA | A$5.84B | A$5.84B | A$5.43B | A$4.08B | A$5.36B |
| Net income | A$1.14B | A$1.14B | A$963M | A$108M | A$1.62B |
| Free cash flow | A$2.52B | A$2.52B | A$2.02B | A$1.85B | A$2.28B |
| Capital expenditure | A$2.44B | A$2.44B | A$2.53B | A$2.55B | A$2.52B |
| Total debt | n/a | A$16.5B | A$17.4B | A$16.7B | A$15.7B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolworths WOW.AX | $35.8B | +29% | +4% | 4% | 28.8× | 8.8% |
| Coles COL.AX | $21.0B | +7% | +3% | 4% | 24.4× | 5.5% |
| Costco COST | $467B | +4% | +10% | 4% | 46.2× | 19.9% |
| Metcash MTS.AX | $2.55B | +12% | 0% | 3% | 14.1× | 0.9% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | WOW.AX | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +9.3% | +9.2% | 7th highest of 14 |
| 6-month return | +28.8% | +15.6% | 3rd highest of 14 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -0.1% | -6.7% | highest of 14 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +3.6% | +2.9% | 7th highest of 14 |
| Operating margin | 4.0% | 4.3% | 5th lowest of 14 |
| Forward P/E | 28.8× | 18.5× | most expensive of 13 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 8.8% | 4.0% | 3rd most demanding of 14 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +5.1% | +4.1% | 5th highest of 14 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +3.7 pp | -4.9 pp | 3rd most demanding of 14 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +3.2 pp | +3.6 pp | 7th lowest of 14 |
| EV / EBITDA | 11.4× | 8.8× | 4th most expensive of 13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.6× | 2.4× | 5th most indebted of 14 |
| Bond spread | 117 bp | 101 bp | 2nd widest of 7 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolworths WOW.AX | Australia | $35.8B | +29% | +4% | 4% | 28.8× | 8.8% | +5.1% |
| Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize AD.AS | Netherlands | $33.3B | -6% | 0% | 4% | 12.7× | -7.0% | +4.3% |
| Kroger KR | United States | $40.0B | +4% | +2% | 3% | 13.1× | -6.0% | +2.2% |
| Seven & I 3382.T | Japan | $31.7B | +16% | -11% | 4% | 17.4× | 4.0% | +12.6% |
| George Weston WN.TO | Canada | $29.0B | +15% | +4% | 9% | 21.0× | -7.3% | +3.9% |
| Tesco TSCO.L | United Kingdom | $46.2B | +21% | +5% | 4% | 17.5× | 5.9% | +5.0% |
| Loblaw Companies L.TO | Canada | $57.0B | +16% | +4% | 7% | 26.1× | -1.0% | +3.9% |
| Coles COL.AX | Australia | $21.0B | +7% | +3% | 4% | 24.4× | 5.5% | +3.3% |
| Metro MRU.TO | Canada | $14.6B | +11% | +3% | 6% | 19.4× | -0.7% | +4.1% |
| Uni-president Enterprises 1216.TW | Taiwan | $13.2B | +11% | +1% | 5% | 17.6× | 0.6% | +8.5% |
| Kesko KESKOA.HE | Finland | $11.3B | +23% | +6% | 5% | 20.6× | 4.8% | +3.2% |
| BBB Foods TBBB | United States | $10.8B | +72% | +52% | 1% | n/a | 49.9% | +37.1% |
| J Sainsbury SBRY.L | United Kingdom | $10.4B | +16% | -3% | 3% | 14.9× | 7.8% | +3.0% |
| Dino Polska DNP.WA | Poland | $9.36B | +31% | +14% | 6% | 22.2× | 17.9% | +27.1% |
Woolworths has 7 bonds outstanding with $3.06B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like BBB. Weighted yield 5.44%, a spread of 117 bp over government bonds.