UNFI - Distributor De-Leveraging and a Door to Capital Return-Oriented Value Creation—We Raise Our EPS Estimates But Stay NEUTRAL-Rated

Research evidence excerpt

UNFI - Distributor De-Leveraging and a Door to Capital Return-Oriented Value Creation—We Raise Our EPS Estimates But Stay NEUTRAL-Rated

June 22, 2026

John Heinbockel john.heinbockel@guggenheimpartners.com UNFI - Distributor De-Leveraging and a Door to

212 381 4135 Capital Return-Oriented Value Creation—We Raise

Steven Forbes, CFA, CPA

steven.forbes@guggenheimpartners.com Our EPS Estimates But Stay NEUTRAL-Rated

212 381 4188

Julio Marquez Key Message: Although we remain NEUTRAL-rated for valuation reasons, we believe julio.marquez@guggenheimpartners.com the path to potentially meaningful capital returns, on top of high-single digit secular 212 823 6605

EBITDA growth, is drawing closer with declining borrowing costs a complementary

Jacob Nivasch benefit. The recent term loan repricing reduces annual interest expense by $3 million with

jacob.nivasch@guggenheimpartners.com further improvement likely during the next several years, especially given the presence

212 338 8837 of a sizable, lower-cost ABL facility. More importantly, the combination of FCF-funded

Max Horowitz debt reduction and EBITDA growth would lower leverage to 1.8x next summer from the

max.horowitz@guggenheimpartners.com current 2.5x, eliminating the need for further debt paydown. The ascension of share

212 518 9974 repurchases as a capital outlay would be a positive, possibly resulting in a mid-teens

TSR. ~45 percentage points of year-to-date S&P 500 outperformance and a 7.6x our

2026E EBITDA multiple—see Exhibit 1—keeps us NEUTRAL-rated.

UNFI NEUTRAL The Term Loan Repricing and Ongoing De-Leverage. The recent term loan re-pricing was

United Natural Foods, Inc. merely the latest in a multi-faceted balance sheet strengthening which began in mid-2024