Mama's Creations, Inc. (MAMA) Stock Analysis and Metrics

Mama's Creations

NASDAQ: MAMA

$17.74 ▲ +0.26 (+1.49%)

At close: Jul 24, 2026 · 3:59 PM UTC

Financial Ratios

Market Cap720.58 Mn

P/E118.01

P/S4.74

Div. Yield0.00

ROIC (Qtr)0.01

Total Debt (Qtr)5.09 Mn

Revenue Growth (1y) (Qtr)49.67

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About

Mama’s Creations, Inc. is a leading marketer and manufacturer of fresh deli prepared foods found in over 12,000 grocery mass market club and convenience stores nationwide. The company offers a broad portfolio of high quality fresh clean and easy to prepare foods that address consumer and retailer needs. Its vision is to become a one stop shop deli solutions platform using vertical integration and a diverse family of brands to provide a wide array of prepared foods for modern consumers. Products are developed from original Italian recipes handed down through generations and include all natural specialty prepared refrigerated foods sold in retailers across the country.

The company generates revenue primarily through the sale of chicken beef and turkey meatballs meat loaf sausage related products and pasta and rice entrees under the MamaMancini’s brand. It also sells olives olive mixes and savory products through its Olive Branch and T&L Creative Salads operations. Over one hundred product offerings are available across beef chicken salad and olive portfolios in various retail and bulk package sizes. These items are principally sold in the deli sections of supermarkets including hot bars salad bars prepared foods sandwich areas and cold deli and foods to go counters. Customers include supermarket chains club stores mass market retailers and food distributors.

The company operates through the following segments: MamaMancini’s, T&L Creative Salads, and Olive Branch.

• MamaMancini’s focuses on the production and marketing of all natural meals that contain a minimal number of ingredients many of which are derived from the original recipes of Anna Mama Mancini. The product line includes chicken beef and turkey meatballs meat loaf sausage related products and pasta and rice entrees. These items appeal to health conscious consumers seeking to avoid artificial flavors synthetic colors and preservatives. Many of the products have received USDA approval as all natural and are authorized to carry the all natural label.

• T&L Creative Salads prepares and sells fresh salads and related products to large retail customers. The operation shares a production facility in Farmingdale New York with Olive Branch and emphasizes quality and convenience for its clients. Its offerings complement the broader deli portfolio by providing ready to eat salad options.

• Olive Branch concentrates on selling olives olive mixes and savory products to a limited number of large retail customers primarily in pre packaged containers. The products are manufactured at the same Farmingdale New York facility as T&L Creative Salads and are designed for easy integration into retailer deli offerings.

Within the highly competitive deli prepared food industry Mama’s Creations, Inc. holds a strong position due to its authentic recipes great taste and health focused product lines. The company differentiates itself through its vertical integration ability to offer a one stop shop solution and its long standing relationships with retail partners. While numerous national and local competitors exist the firm’s emphasis on quality innovation and customer loyalty provides a competitive edge.

The company serves supermarkets club stores mass market retailers and food distributors across the United States. Its Olive Branch and T&L Creative Salads divisions focus on large retail customers that require pre packaged olives olive mixes savory products and fresh salads. No specific customer names are disclosed in the filing.

Investment Thesis

▲ Bull case

Mama’s Creations has demonstrated consistent volume driven revenue growth with over 90% of the 10% increase in the quarter coming from higher sales volume rather than price increases. This indicates that the company is gaining market share in a growing prepared foods category where overall retail food and beverage volume growth is forecast to be flat to 1% but deli prepared foods are expanding at more than 5% per year. Management noted that the team has gained share in all nine quarters since its formation highlighting a durable competitive advantage in customer acquisition and retention. The sustained volume momentum provides a strong foundation for future profitability as scale efficiencies begin to materialize.
Recent distribution wins with Walmart and Costco have opened new geographic territories in the Texas and Southeast regions where the company previously had minimal presence. Walmart reorder volumes are already more than twice the size of the initial orders signaling strong early demand and repeat purchase behavior. Costco’s national buy placement has driven 70% of Instacart sales in the quarter being new to brand indicating successful customer acquisition through high visibility channels. These new doors expand the company’s total addressable market and reduce reliance on the historically dominant Northeast region.
Capital expenditures at the Farmingdale facility have doubled chicken capacity and installed additional processing equipment that insources value added steps previously outsourced. Management estimates that fully optimized in house processing could lower the cost of chicken by close to one dollar per pound which would directly improve gross margins in a commodity environment where chicken prices remain elevated. The new grills also allow for reduced overtime and higher labor efficiencies through a three shift model. These operational upgrades are expected to translate into measurable margin improvement early next year as the company refines the trimming and sales mix of chicken parts.
SKU rationalization efforts have removed another 100 stock keeping units from the product portfolio with approximately two thirds of the displaced volume flowing back into existing higher margin items. This simplification reduces complexity lowers carrying costs and improves inventory turnover as evidenced by the new warehouse management system driving inventory to its lowest level since the leadership team joined. The company now reports a very short list of items requiring price adjustments indicating that most products already meet internal margin targets. Such operational discipline supports margin expansion without relying on price hikes.
The balance sheet shows a solid cash position of 9.3 million dollars and reduced debt to 6.3 million dollars after 2.5 million dollars in paydowns providing financial flexibility for both organic investments and opportunistic mergers and acquisitions. Management has articulated a disciplined M&A stance stating they do not need to overpay and will only pursue attractive valuations in a fragmented prepared foods sector. This approach preserves capital while allowing the company to act as a potential consolidator should suitable targets emerge at reasonable multiples. The combination of internal cash generation and a cautious acquisition stance lowers financial risk.

Mama’s Creations has demonstrated consistent volume driven revenue growth with over 90% of the 10% increase in the quarter coming from higher sales volume rather than price increases. This indicates that the company is gaining market share in a growing prepared foods category where overall retail food and beverage volume growth is forecast to be flat to 1% but deli prepared foods are expanding at more than 5% per year. Management noted that the team has gained share in all nine quarters since its formation highlighting a durable competitive advantage in customer acquisition and retention. The sustained volume momentum provides a strong foundation for future profitability as scale efficiencies begin to materialize.
Recent distribution wins with Walmart and Costco have opened new geographic territories in the Texas and Southeast regions where the company previously had minimal presence. Walmart reorder volumes are already more than twice the size of the initial orders signaling strong early demand and repeat purchase behavior. Costco’s national buy placement has driven 70% of Instacart sales in the quarter being new to brand indicating successful customer acquisition through high visibility channels. These new doors expand the company’s total addressable market and reduce reliance on the historically dominant Northeast region.
Capital expenditures at the Farmingdale facility have doubled chicken capacity and installed additional processing equipment that insources value added steps previously outsourced. Management estimates that fully optimized in house processing could lower the cost of chicken by close to one dollar per pound which would directly improve gross margins in a commodity environment where chicken prices remain elevated. The new grills also allow for reduced overtime and higher labor efficiencies through a three shift model. These operational upgrades are expected to translate into measurable margin improvement early next year as the company refines the trimming and sales mix of chicken parts.
SKU rationalization efforts have removed another 100 stock keeping units from the product portfolio with approximately two thirds of the displaced volume flowing back into existing higher margin items. This simplification reduces complexity lowers carrying costs and improves inventory turnover as evidenced by the new warehouse management system driving inventory to its lowest level since the leadership team joined. The company now reports a very short list of items requiring price adjustments indicating that most products already meet internal margin targets. Such operational discipline supports margin expansion without relying on price hikes.
The balance sheet shows a solid cash position of 9.3 million dollars and reduced debt to 6.3 million dollars after 2.5 million dollars in paydowns providing financial flexibility for both organic investments and opportunistic mergers and acquisitions. Management has articulated a disciplined M&A stance stating they do not need to overpay and will only pursue attractive valuations in a fragmented prepared foods sector. This approach preserves capital while allowing the company to act as a potential consolidator should suitable targets emerge at reasonable multiples. The combination of internal cash generation and a cautious acquisition stance lowers financial risk.

▼ Bear case

Chicken prices remain nearly 50% higher than the prior year period continuing to exert significant pressure on cost of goods despite recent stabilization around 1.50 dollars per pound. Management acknowledged that commodity costs are still tough and that any further improvement in pricing will depend on supply chain negotiations rather than guaranteed market declines. The persistence of this input cost inflation limits the company’s ability to expand gross margins quickly and creates a headwind that could offset volume driven revenue gains. Until chicken costs meaningfully recede profitability will remain constrained by elevated raw material expenses.
Reported gross margin fell from 30.1% to 22.6% year over year reflecting a 750 basis point decline driven primarily by non recurring construction impacts and elevated commodity costs. Even after stripping out the estimated 400 basis point construction drag the underlying gross margin remains in the mid 20s range well below the historical levels the company has previously achieved. Net income margin contracted to 1.3% from 7% illustrating how margin compression translates directly into bottom line weakness. The market may be underestimating the duration of these margin pressures if commodity costs stay elevated or if operational efficiencies take longer to realize than anticipated.
Operating expenses increased to 6.6 million dollars from 5.9 million dollars year over year with a 75% rise in marketing spend and a 25% increase in trade spend contributing to the overall rise. While management highlights strong return on advertising spend and return on investment from these initiatives the elevated expense base reduces operating leverage and makes profitability more sensitive to fluctuations in gross profit. If the expected return on these investments does not materialize at scale the company could experience continued operating margin pressure despite revenue growth.
The Northeast region experienced a revenue decline driven entirely by the intentional rollback of unprofitable street business indicating that a portion of the company’s historical base is being deliberately shrunk. While core Northeast customers are showing growth the overall region’s performance masks a strategic withdrawal that could limit near term top line expansion in a traditionally strong market. The shift away from this legacy business may also involve one time costs or customer transition challenges that are not fully captured in the current quarter results.
The full benefit of the recent Farmingdale capital expenditures hinges on successful optimization of the new chicken trimming process and the ability to sell all resulting parts at attractive prices. Management admitted that the machinery is installed but not yet optimized on how to balance the product mix and maximize value extraction. Execution risk exists if the company fails to achieve the projected one dollar per pound cost savings or if the new capacity creates overhead without proportional volume absorption. Until these operational kinks are resolved the anticipated margin upside remains uncertain.

Chicken prices remain nearly 50% higher than the prior year period continuing to exert significant pressure on cost of goods despite recent stabilization around 1.50 dollars per pound. Management acknowledged that commodity costs are still tough and that any further improvement in pricing will depend on supply chain negotiations rather than guaranteed market declines. The persistence of this input cost inflation limits the company’s ability to expand gross margins quickly and creates a headwind that could offset volume driven revenue gains. Until chicken costs meaningfully recede profitability will remain constrained by elevated raw material expenses.
Reported gross margin fell from 30.1% to 22.6% year over year reflecting a 750 basis point decline driven primarily by non recurring construction impacts and elevated commodity costs. Even after stripping out the estimated 400 basis point construction drag the underlying gross margin remains in the mid 20s range well below the historical levels the company has previously achieved. Net income margin contracted to 1.3% from 7% illustrating how margin compression translates directly into bottom line weakness. The market may be underestimating the duration of these margin pressures if commodity costs stay elevated or if operational efficiencies take longer to realize than anticipated.
Operating expenses increased to 6.6 million dollars from 5.9 million dollars year over year with a 75% rise in marketing spend and a 25% increase in trade spend contributing to the overall rise. While management highlights strong return on advertising spend and return on investment from these initiatives the elevated expense base reduces operating leverage and makes profitability more sensitive to fluctuations in gross profit. If the expected return on these investments does not materialize at scale the company could experience continued operating margin pressure despite revenue growth.
The Northeast region experienced a revenue decline driven entirely by the intentional rollback of unprofitable street business indicating that a portion of the company’s historical base is being deliberately shrunk. While core Northeast customers are showing growth the overall region’s performance masks a strategic withdrawal that could limit near term top line expansion in a traditionally strong market. The shift away from this legacy business may also involve one time costs or customer transition challenges that are not fully captured in the current quarter results.
The full benefit of the recent Farmingdale capital expenditures hinges on successful optimization of the new chicken trimming process and the ability to sell all resulting parts at attractive prices. Management admitted that the machinery is installed but not yet optimized on how to balance the product mix and maximize value extraction. Execution risk exists if the company fails to achieve the projected one dollar per pound cost savings or if the new capacity creates overhead without proportional volume absorption. Until these operational kinks are resolved the anticipated margin upside remains uncertain.

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2026)

Peer Comparison

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1	KHC	Kraft Heinz Co	30.29 Bn	-5.26	1.21	21.13 Bn
2	GIS	General Mills Inc	19.35 Bn	-2,199.07	1.05	13.47 Bn
3	HRL	Hormel Foods Corp /De/	13.90 Bn	29.79	1.14	2.86 Bn
4	MKC	Mccormick & Co Inc	13.45 Bn	18.95	1.82	3.61 Bn
5	MICC	Magnum Ice Cream Co N.V.	10.95 Bn	31.87	1.18	3.85 Bn
6	SFD	Smithfield Foods Inc	10.34 Bn	41.19	0.66	2.00 Bn
7	DAR	Darling Ingredients Inc.	9.92 Bn	57.52	1.66	4.13 Bn
8	OTLY	Oatly Group AB	8.23 Bn	-54.03	9.21	0.00 Bn

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Investment Thesis

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2026)

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2026)

Peer Comparison

Research Tools

Developers

About

Investment Thesis

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2026)

Segments Breakdown of Revenue (2026)

Peer Comparison

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