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what it is
Darling collects animal by-products and food waste, then turns them into ingredients, fuel feedstock, and cleaning services.
how it gets paid
Last year Darling Ingr made $6.1B in revenue. Rendering and animal by-products was the main engine at $2.15B, or 35% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 7.4% last year. For the close of 2025, management previously guided that core ingredients would generate dependable cash flow, but visibility at dgd is limited by uncertainty surrounding.
what just happened
Darling missed on the filing side, with $0.04 EPS and $4.4B revenue.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
40/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
119.0x trailing p/e — you're paying up for this one
5.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 45/100 — below average
What they do
Darling collects animal by-products and food waste, then turns them into ingredients, fuel feedstock, and cleaning services.
Darling runs about 190 processing and transfer facilities across five continents. That means your greasy waste gets picked up locally, not shipped through a mystery middleman. A 50% diesel joint venture gives the business another way to turn trash into cash.
How they make money
$6.1B
annual revenue · their business grew +7.4% last year
Rendering and animal by-products
$2.15B
Used cooking oil collection
$1.55B
Renewable diesel JV
$1.10B
Bakery waste and food recovery
$0.75B
Grease trap cleaning and other
$0.55B
The products that matter
animal by-product recycling
Feed and Food Ingredients
$6.1B companywide revenue
this is the core operating base behind the full $6.1B business. It is not flashy, but it is the part keeping cash flow grounded while renewable fuels work through a weak patch.
core
renewable diesel joint venture
Diamond Green Diesel
30-day turnaround hit Q4 2025
this joint venture turns used cooking oil into renewable diesel. In the latest quarter, results were hurt by a roughly 30-day Port Arthur facility turnaround and weaker inventory accounting tied to late-quarter price moves.
swing factor
animal feed and ingredients
Feed and Food Segments
$1.56B sales · +10%
sales rose 10% to $1.56B in the latest quarter. That matters because it shows the base business is improving even while the joint venture muddies the headline numbers.
stabilizer
Key numbers
119.0x
trailing p/e
You pay $119 for each $1 of past profit. That is luxury pricing for a 4.5% operating margin.
$6.1B
annual revenue
This is the scale. A 1% move here is $61M.
4.5%
operating margin
This is the cushion. Small cost shocks can eat profit fast.
$4.0B
long-term debt
That is 42% of capital. Leverage limits how much pain the balance sheet can absorb.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 40 / 100
- long-term debt $4.0B (42% of capital)
- net profit margin 7.5% — keeps 8 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 8% — $0.08 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in DAR 3 years ago → it's now worth $5,730.
The index would have given you $13,920.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
Darling missed on the filing side, with $0.04 EPS and $4.4B revenue.
The SEC filing shows $4.4B in revenue, $0.04 EPS, and 23.6% gross margin. A separate consensus feed says $0.36 versus $0.26, so the earnings data disagrees.
$4.4B
revenue
$0.04
eps
23.6%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The filing's $0.04 EPS shows how thin the profit line is on $4.4B of revenue.
-
still, overall profitability remained depressed by historical standards.
-
sales rose 10%, to $1.56 billion, and net income increased modestly, to $19 million, or $0.12 per share, reflecting slightly better performance in the feed and food segments as conditions improved from a trough.these gains were partly offset by a sizable equity loss from the diamond green diesel joint venture, where results were hurt by a roughly 30-day turnaround at the port arthur facility that limited higher-margin sustainable aviation fuel (saf) production, along with unfavorable inventory accounting effects tied to latequarter price movements.
-
near-term prospects remain uneven, as well.for the close of 2025, management previously guided that core ingredients would generate dependable cash flow, but visibility at dgd is limited by uncertainty surrounding u.s. fuels policy, including the timing of renewable volume obligation enforcement and small refinery exemptions. to help bridge this period, the company is monetizing production tax credits, including a $125 million sale completed during the december quarter, with additional transactions expected around early 2026.
-
these proceeds should support near-term capital needs and provide some balance-sheet flexibility.
-
business should gradually recover out to 2028-2030 as conditions normalize.the food and feed segments are not structurally impaired and should benefit from the company’s scale and integrated collection network as utilization improves. while results are unlikely to return quickly to prior peak levels, the core businesses should provide a more stable earnings base over time, while an eventual recovery in renewable fuels may be a further boost.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the top threat is diamond green diesel staying weak while renewable fuels policy stays murky.
med
Diamond Green Diesel does not recover cleanly
the latest quarter already included a roughly 30-day Port Arthur turnaround that limited higher-margin sustainable aviation fuel output and drove a sizable equity loss.
if that drag continues, the recovery case stays delayed and the stock keeps looking expensive against weak earnings.
med
U.S. fuels policy remains uncertain
management explicitly flagged uncertainty around renewable volume obligation enforcement and small refinery exemptions. That means visibility is limited where investors most want clarity.
policy noise directly affects DGD economics and the value of the tax-credit bridge DAR is using to support capital needs.
med
thin margins plus $4.0B of debt
DAR keeps just 4.6% of revenue as profit and carries long-term debt equal to 42% of capital. That is workable, but not forgiving.
on a $6.1B revenue base, even a modest margin squeeze can matter fast when the balance sheet is already doing real work.
DAR is not one bad quarter away from disaster, but a low-margin business with $4.0B in debt and a stressed joint venture does not have much slack.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
earnings
next quarterly print
the next report needs to show that $0.12 quarterly EPS was a trough, not the new normal.
trend
feed and food momentum
the cleanest positive data point last quarter was 10% sales growth to $1.56B. If that fades, the stabilizer weakens.
risk
DGD after the turnaround
watch whether production and margin commentary improve now that the roughly 30-day Port Arthur turnaround is behind them.
metric
tax credit monetization
DAR sold $125M of production tax credits in the December quarter. More sales around early 2026 would support liquidity, but they are a bridge, not the destination.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
below average
momentum score 4 — in human-speak, analysts expect weaker price performance than the typical stock from here.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — this is neither a bunker stock nor a disaster waiting to happen.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — the chart is not giving you a strong signal either way.
earnings predictability
40 / 100
low predictability means quarterly numbers can move around more than you would like.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net selling for 2 consecutive quarters — 204 buyers vs. 254 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.2B shares. net selling for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$15
$46
$36
current price
$31
target midpoint · 13% from current · 3-5yr high: $60 (+70% · 14% ann'l return)
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