The 2025 financial year has officially ended, and we're now three days into FY2026. Being the turn of a new calendar for investors, it's a good time to look back and reflect on the year that was, and how it treated various popular ASX 200 shares. With that in mind, today, let's check out Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) shares and see how they fared against its arch-rival Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) stock in FY2025.
As a yardstick, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose 9.97% over the financial year, and by 13.4% if we include the value of dividends received.
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How did Woolworths shares fare in FY2025?
The Woolworths share price began the 2025 financial year at $33.79. On Monday, those same shares closed out June at $31.11 each. That means Woolworths went backwards by 7.93% over the 12 months to 30 June.
Of course, the dividends that Woolworths paid out over FY2025 did help mitigate some of those losses. The supermarket operator doled out a total of 96 cents per share in fully franked dividends in FY2025, as well as a special dividend of 40 cents per share. Even accounting for the ordinary dividends, investors still went backwards by around 5.1% over the financial year.
This can be put down to a few factors. Firstly, Woolworths spent most of FY2025 losing market share to Coles. Secondly, the company's FY2024 results, as well as the half-year results from February, were not received well by investors. To illustrate, the half-year results showed Woolworths recording a 14.2% drop in earnings before interest and tax, as well as a 20.6% hit to net profits after tax. The interim dividend was also cut by 17%.
What about Coles stock?
Coles stock fared far better than Woolworths in FY2025, to understate it. This ASX 200 share started the financial year off at $17.03 a share. But by Monday, Coles had risen all the way to $20.84 – a gain worth 22.37%. That's after Coles hit a new all-time high of $22.53 a share back in May, too.
We can also throw on an additional 4.05% or so to account for the 9 cents in fully franked dividends per share that the company paid out over FY2025.
Woolworths shares' FY2025 losses were Coles stock's gains. Unlike Woolies, Coles' half-year report from February was very well received by investors. It saw the company post a 12.5% rise in underlying earnings, as well as a 6.4% rise in underlying net profits after tax. Coles also managed to increase its interim dividend, hiking its payment for the half by 2.8%.
Which is the better buy today?
So we've established that Coles stock was the clear winner in FY2025, and it wasn't even close. But what about the future?
Well, ASX brokers seem fairly optimistic about both companies, but here's a clear winner.
Yesterday, my Fool colleague covered Macquarie's 'outperform' rating on Coles, which came alongside a $23.10 share price target for the coming 12 months.
We also recently looked at the views of Bell Potter on Woolworths shares.
This broker gave Woolies a 'hold' rating, but also a 12-month share price target of $31.90. That would see investors have a far better FY2026 than FY2025 if accurate.
Of course, those are just two opinions. But no doubt shareholders in both stocks would find them easy reading.
