Cluenex
Log inStart free
All stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Food Services

Aramark ARMK

Aramark scores weak on business quality (3.3 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$54.94Oct 10, 2026
Business qualityWeak
Next earningsNov 16, 2026, after the close
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What Aramark does

    Aramark provides food, facility, and uniform services to institutions like universities, hospitals, and stadiums, generating revenue through contracted service fees and dining operations.

  2. What it does best

    Aramark secures multi-year institutional contracts that lock in massive captive customer bases across universities and stadiums. Its gross margin of 8.6% sits at the bottom 4th percentile of its sector, leaving little room for error when inflation spikes.

  3. The main risk

    Carrying $5.4 billion in total debt against $639 million in cash leaves the balance sheet vulnerable to sudden interest rate shifts or margin compression in its low-margin catering operations.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityWeak

Operating margins of 4.5% and a net margin of 1.9% reflect a low-margin business model where high revenue scale does not translate into heavy earnings power.

MoatWeak

The moat relies on deeply embedded institutional contracts that lock in enterprise clients, though a gross margin in the bottom quartile of its sector limits true pricing power.

GrowthSlow

Revenue grew to $19.8B, driven by steady contract renewals, keeping growth near the middle of the pack at the 58th sector percentile.

Financial healthWeak

With a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.7x and net debt at $4.8B, debt obligations weigh heavily on the balance sheet despite free cash flow rising to $433M.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

1 sold $4.3M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on ARMK

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is ARMK a good business?

Aramark scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (3.3 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat weak, growth slow and financial health weak.

Are insiders buying ARMK?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $4.3M outside pre-planned sales.

When does ARMK report earnings?

Nov 16, 2026, after the close.

For members

See ARMK today

  • Today's verdict on ARMK, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Open in Cluenex Free to start. First month of Core free.

Cite this page: Cluenex, “Aramark (ARMK)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/armk/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.