Pet food company Freshpet (NASDAQ: FRPT) reported Q3 2026 results beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with revenue up 10% year on year to $317.8 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.58 per share was 49% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

For more on Freshpet, read our free full research report.

“Our third quarter results demonstrate the strength and durability of the Freshpet business model. In a challenging consumer and intense competitive environment, we delivered double-digit net sales growth, expanded margins and achieved our strongest Adjusted Gross Margin in more than seven years, while continuing to grow market share,” commented Billy Cyr, Freshpet’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are executing well against the priorities within our control and strengthening the competitive advantages that differentiate Freshpet, including the quality of our products, our manufacturing scale and expertise, our expanding omnichannel presence and our growing franchise of highly loyal pet parents. We believe these advantages provide a strong foundation to deliver sustainable, profitable growth, capture a meaningful share of the long-term opportunity in fresh pet food and fulfill our mission to help pets live longer, happier and healthier lives with the people who love them.”

Revenue growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term revenue performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can deliver a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years.

With $1.21 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Freshpet is a small consumer staples company, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from economies of scale and negotiating leverage with retailers. On the positive side, it can grow faster because it has a longer list of untapped store chains to sell into.

Freshpet’s 18.9% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was impressive as consumers bought more of its products.

This quarter, Freshpet reported year-on-year revenue growth of 10%, and its $317.8 million in revenue exceeded Wall Street’s consensus estimates by 1.8%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 8.1% over the next 12 months, according to S&P, a deceleration versus the last three years. Despite the slowdown, this projection is healthy and implies the market sees success for its products.

Volume growth

Revenue growth can be broken down into changes in price and volume (the number of units sold). While both are important, volume is the lifeblood of a successful staples business as there’s a ceiling to what consumers will pay for everyday goods; they can always trade down to non-branded products if the branded versions are too expensive.

To analyze whether Freshpet generated its growth from changes in price or volume, we can compare its volume growth to its organic revenue growth, which excludes non-fundamental impacts on company financials like mergers and currency fluctuations.

Over the last two years, Freshpet’s average quarterly volume growth of 13.7% has substantially outpaced the competition. In the context of its 13% average organic revenue growth, this indicates that most of the company’s gains have come from more customers purchasing its products.

In Freshpet’s Q3 2026, sales volumes grew 10% year on year. This result shows the business is staying on track, but the deceleration suggests growth is getting harder to come by.

Key takeaways from Freshpet’s Q3 results

Freshpet delivered a solid Q3, with EPS above analysts’ consensus estimates and EBITDA beating Wall Street’s consensus by a wide margin. The gross margin miss was a shortfall, but the quarter still had clear positives. Shares rose 4.8% to $72.95 immediately after the report.

Freshpet had a solid quarter, but is the stock a buy? 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. For more on Freshpet, read the full research report here (it’s free).