Food distribution giant US Foods (NYSE:USFD) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 4.5% year on year to $10.53 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.44 per share was 5.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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US Foods (USFD) Q2 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $10.53 billion vs analyst estimates of $10.47 billion (4.5% year-on-year growth, 0.6% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $1.44 vs analyst estimates of $1.36 (5.7% beat)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $604 million vs analyst estimates of $587.2 million (5.7% margin, 2.9% beat)
- Operating Margin: 4.2%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Sales Volumes were up 1.9% year on year
- Market Capitalization: $22.13 billion
Company Overview
With a fleet of over 6,500 trucks delivering everything from fresh produce to frozen entrées, US Foods (NYSE:USFD) is a major foodservice distributor that supplies food products and services to approximately 250,000 restaurants, healthcare facilities, hotels, and educational institutions across the United States.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Unfortunately, US Foods’s 9.1% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was weak. This fell short of our benchmark for the consumer discretionary sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within consumer discretionary, product cycles are short and revenue can be hit-driven due to rapidly changing trends and consumer preferences. US Foods’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 4.6% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs. 
We can better understand the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its number of units sold. Over the last two years, US Foods’s units sold averaged 1.9% year-on-year growth. Because this number is lower than its revenue growth, we can see the company benefited from price increases. 
This quarter, US Foods reported modest year-on-year revenue growth of 4.5% but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 0.6%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.9% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. Although this projection suggests its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.
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Operating Margin
Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses — everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes.
US Foods’s operating margin has generally stayed the same over the last 12 months, and we generally like to see margin increases due to economies of scale and cost efficiency over time.
In Q2, US Foods generated an operating margin profit margin of 4.2%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
US Foods’s EPS grew at 36.9% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 9.1% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
In Q2, US Foods reported adjusted EPS of $1.44, up from $1.19 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 5.7%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects US Foods’s full-year EPS to grow 18.5% from $4.33 to $5.13.
Key Takeaways from US Foods’s Q2 Results
It was good to see US Foods beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its EBITDA outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this print had some key positives. The stock traded up 2.6% to $103.16 immediately after reporting.
So do we think US Foods is an attractive buy at the current price? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).