How does Trendshare evaluate USFD as a worked example?

This example shows how we apply the Trendshare checklist to USFD: earnings power, cash generation, valuation, and margin of safety. We look at business quality, free cash flow trends, price to earnings, and whether there is a reasonable margin of safety at the current price of 108.25.

US Foods Holding Corp. Stock Price and Value Analysis

US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) in our automated value investing analysis, with the cash flow history and price comparison below.

Key Facts

Ticker: USFD (NYSE)
Current price: $108.25
Sector: Consumer Defensive
Industry: Food Distribution

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Hold-time calculator

Estimate how long you need to hold US Foods Holding Corp. to reach your target.

Target type Target price Target total return %

Current price

Expected annual return (compound annual growth rate, CAGR)

Margin of safety (%)

Target price (Trendshare FV)

Include dividend yield
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USFD Free Cash Flow Trend

Free Cash Flow trendline for USFD — Free Cash Flow trendline for US Foods Holding Corp.

CSV

Based on historical returns, we believe that US Foods Holding Corp. can grow its free cash at a rate of about 4%. That's positive!

Advantages	Disadvantages	Neutral
None.	This company has wild ups and downs. This company is making money at a modest rate. This company is less known than others. This stock looks overpriced.	This company pays no dividend.

Inside the USFD Numbers

	USFD Price (US Foods Holding Corp. stock price per share)	$108.25
× Present Value/Intrinsic Valuation The intrinsic value of a company is how much cash it can generate over its lifespan. If a business lasts for ten years and produces a million dollars of free cash profit every year, its intrinsic value is ten million dollars. The present value of an investment is the price you must pay right now to earn that intrinsic value in however many years you want to wait. This of course depends on the rate of return you want for your investment. You can't predict what a company will make in the future with perfect accuracy, but a company with a history of increasing its free cash flow every year is likely to do so over time. By projecting free cash flow into the future, you can calculate a fair price for the stock right now. While most stocks are priced fairly, sometimes they go on sale. This calculation will help you decide that. You still have to figure out if it's a good investment, but bargains exist. Close ^[?]	USFD Fair Price (based on intrinsic value)	$20.06
× Safety Margin Price The safety margin of a stock helps you avoid risk. Why? Because the discounted free cash flow analysis relies on estimates, discounting the fair price by a further safety margin gives you some wiggle room to be wrong about those estimates. Established companies with stable free cash flow growth need a small safety margin. Smaller and newer and riskier companies need a larger safety margin. A company with a lot of debt needs a larger safety margin and a company with a lot of equity needs less. By investing in multiple companies and keeping a sensible safety margin, you can be pleasantly surprised by great companies outperforming your expectations and minimize the possibility of stagnation (or even loss) by companies which underperform. Close ^[?]	USFD Safety Price (based on a variable margin of safety)	$12.04
	Try your own return The fair price above uses a 10.1% discount rate, the long-run US stock return (10.1% geometric, 1926 to 2025, from Bessembinder's working paper, updated 2026-11-09), and 2.5% terminal growth. A higher rate suits a higher return target and gives a lower value. Discount rate (%) Terminal growth (%) Value per share:
× PE Ratio Versus Sector The PE ratio measures the reported earnings of a company to its current stock price. While earnings are easy to manipulate on the balance sheet, this ratio gives you a sense of what buyers are willing to pay for the stock—what they believe it will do in the future. Comparing a stock's PE to the average PE of companies in its industry gives you a sense of market sentiment about the stock and how well it fares financially. It's not the only number, nor the most important, but comparing similar companies is valuable. A ratio far above or below that of its peers is significant. Industries are more specific than sectors, so companies within most industries are more similar than are companies within an industry. Be aware that the size and customers of companies are important to their prospects. Close ^[?]	PE Ratio versus Sector	183% higher than other Consumer Defensive stocks
× PE Ratio Versus Industry The PE ratio measures the reported earnings of a company to its current stock price. While earnings are easy to manipulate on the balance sheet, this ratio gives you a sense of what buyers are willing to pay for the stock—what they believe it will do in the future. Comparing a stock's PE to the average PE of companies in its sector gives you a sense of market sentiment about the stock and how well it fares financially. It's not the only number, nor the most important, but comparing similar companies is valuable. A ratio far above or below that of its peers is significant. Be aware that sectors are very broad, with many types of companies in the same sector. Close ^[?]	PE Ratio versus Industry	0% lower than other Food Distribution stocks
× Free Cash Flow Jitter The free cash flow jitter of a stock measures how much the company's free cash flow varies from its historical trend, on average. While it's always nice to make more money than you expected, a company with predictable free cash flow is stable and good. A company with wild swings in its free cash flow warrants further research. In general, the lower this number, the better. Close ^[?]	Free Cash Flow Jitter	38%

Insider Activity Summary

No open-market insider buys or sells are recorded for the last 12 months.

This stock has short interest! This means that people have shorted it.

Why does that matter? They've made a bet that price will decrease from where they bought it. Maybe there are financial problems, or maybe there's a value play.

As of the latest analysis, there are 15,112,750 shares shorted. With 213,139,538 shares available for purchase and an average trading volume over the past 10 trading days of 3,206,170, it would take at least 4.7 days for all of the short holders to cover their shorts.

Estimate Intrinsic Value (DCF)

Project future free cash flow and discount it back to today to compare market price vs intrinsic value. See how compound returns work over time.

📊 Intrinsic Value Calculator (DCF Method)

Calculate the present value of future cash flows to determine stock intrinsic value.

Annual Free Cash Flow ($):

Current or most recent year free cash flow (operating cash - capex)

Expected Annual Growth Rate (%):

Conservative estimate (3-7% for mature companies, 10-20% for growth)

Discount Rate (%):

Required rate of return (8-10% stable, 12-15% growth, 15%+ speculative)

Projection Period (Years):

Longer projections are less certain but may reveal more value

Terminal Value Multiple:

Exit multiple for terminal value (10-15x typical for mature companies)

Calculation Results

Total Intrinsic Value:

Discounted Cash Flows:

Terminal Value (PV):

Year	Future CF	Present Value

How to use this result: Compare the intrinsic value to the current stock price. If intrinsic value is significantly higher than market price (30-50% margin of safety), the stock may be undervalued. Remember, these are estimates based on your assumptions.

Learn to Evaluate USFD

Learn how to evaluate stocks, understand expected returns, and build a value investing strategy.

See How Returns Compound →

Free Cash Flow by Fiscal Year

Each year names the SEC filer that reported it, so a change of filer shows up here.

Fiscal year	SEC filer (CIK)	Free cash flow (USD millions)
2014	1665918	255.1
2015	1665918	388.5
2016	1665918	382.8
2017	1665918	569.1
2018	1665918	418.1
2019	1665918	546.9
2020	1665918	199.6
2021	1665918	183.6
2022	1665918	520.8
2023	1665918	881.0
2024	1665918	898.4
2025	1665918	1049.2

Download the yearly data as CSV.

Price Versus Our Estimated Value

Free cash flow was positive in all 12 fiscal years we have for US Foods Holding Corp. under its current SEC filer.

Comparing the first and last three years of data, average free cash flow rose sharply: $342.1 million at the start and $942.9 million most recently.

Free cash flow is volatile from year to year, with a variability measure of 38%.

At $108.25, US Foods Holding Corp. trades above our fair value estimate of $20.06.

Dividends are not in our data for US Foods Holding Corp..

Our value investing guide explains how to test these numbers against the filings themselves.

Compared With Its Sector and Industry

Its trailing P/E ratio is 183% above the average for stocks in the Consumer Defensive sector.

Its trailing P/E ratio is in line with the average for stocks in the Food Distribution industry.

A P/E ratio depends on trailing earnings, which one-time items can distort, so a lower P/E is not by itself evidence of value.

SEC Filer History

Every fiscal year on this page is reported by one SEC filer, CIK 1665918.

Each figure on this page comes from that filer.

Risks to This Analysis

Free cash flow is volatile from year to year, so the estimates depend heavily on which years are included.
These figures are automated calculations from SEC filings and the recent price. They may contain errors, and they do not reflect lawsuits, management changes, or other events the filings do not show.

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Questions to Answer Before You Invest in USFD

Does US Foods Holding Corp. have a coherent story? Does it have a plan to continue to make money? Is it worth your time? Only you can decide where to go from here. Our investment guide helps you ask the right questions, including how to buy stocks. Use these research links for more information.

Step 1 — Snapshot
- Price: 108.25
- Market cap: $23B
- EPS: 3.58
Step 2 — Valuation checks
- P/E: 30.237
- FCF yield: —
- Date checked: Nov 12, 2026
Step 3 — Margin of safety
- Compare price to fair value and safety price.
- Look for durable cash generation and reasonable leverage.
- Decide if it passes your personal checklist.