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what it is
Seaboard raises pigs, sells pork, moves cargo, mills grain, and makes sugar, alcohol, power, and biodiesel.
how it gets paid
Last year Seb made $9.7B in revenue. Pork was the main engine at $4.6B, or 47% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 7.1% last year. EDGAR shows Revenue rose 189% vs. prior year and EPS rose 121% vs. prior year.
what just happened
Revenue hit $7.3B, while EPS jumped to $251.47 on a business that usually lives on thin margins.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
10/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
11.0x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
0.2% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
2.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 62/100 — average
What they do
Seaboard raises pigs, sells pork, moves cargo, mills grain, and makes sugar, alcohol, power, and biodiesel.
This business wins by owning more of the mess than most rivals. It raises hogs, processes pork, mills feed, ships cargo to 28 countries, and even makes power, so you are not betting on one link in the chain. That vertical integration (owning multiple steps) → fewer middlemen → more control when markets get ugly, which matters in a business that produced $9.7 billion of revenue on just a 5.1% operating margin.
How they make money
$9.7B
annual revenue · their business grew +7.1% last year
Pork
$4.6B
Commodity trading and milling
$2.3B
Marine shipping
$1.4B
Sugar and alcohol
$0.9B
Power and liquid fuels
$0.5B
The products that matter
raises hogs and processes pork
Pork Production & Processing
$9.7B · core revenue engine
it's the revenue center at $9.7B, but a 7.1% gross margin leaves you very little room for mistakes on feed, labor, or logistics.
7.1% gross margin
moves commodities by sea
Ocean Transportation
segment revenue not broken out here
this part matters because shipping costs still hit a business earning only a 5.1% net margin. The catch: the snapshot data does not give you a clean revenue split, so you should treat this as an operating support arm, not a separately underwritten profit engine.
fuel-sensitive
Key numbers
11.0x
trailing p/e
Valuation multiple → what you pay for each dollar of earnings → so what: SEB is priced like a cyclical grinder, not a premium compounder.
$9.7B
annual revenue
Scale is real. The odd part is that $9.7B of sales only produced a 5.1% operating margin, which tells you how unforgiving this business is.
5.1%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: one bad pricing quarter can wreck the year.
2.0%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit generated from the money tied up in the business → so what: this is a heavy asset base earning a very light return.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 85 / 100
- long-term debt $1.3B (21% of capital)
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for SEB right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
beat estimates
Revenue hit $7.3B, while EPS jumped to $251.47 on a business that usually lives on thin margins.
EDGAR shows quarterly revenue rose 189% vs. prior year and EPS rose 121% vs. prior year. Quiet part loud: that kind of jump says Seaboard's earnings are driven by cycle swings as much as steady execution, especially with gross margin at just 6.8%.
$7.3B
revenue
$251.47
eps
6.8%
gross margin
the number that mattered
Gross margin was 6.8%. Gross margin → money left after direct costs → so what: even after a huge quarter, this business still has almost no room for error.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is feed, freight, and fuel cost volatility inside a 7.1% gross margin business.
high
feed and fuel inflation
gross margin is 7.1%. when you start that low, even a modest cost move can take a visible bite out of earnings.
this is a margin story first. if costs rise faster than selling prices, the cheap multiple loses its cushion.
med
no moat, low returns
the moat score is 36/100 and return on capital is 2.0%. you are not buying pricing power. you are buying competent execution in hard markets.
if operations slip, there is no structural edge to keep margins from compressing.
med
earnings visibility is weak
earnings predictability is 10/100. in plain english: one quarter can look excellent and the next can look like a different company.
low visibility makes 11.0x earnings less comforting than it looks on the screen.
low
tight float and trading friction
only 248,274 shares are held by non-affiliates, representing about $706M of float. that is not much public stock for a company valued near $5B.
a small float can amplify moves and make entry or exit less forgiving for outside shareholders.
about $9B in expected revenue paired with a 5.1% net margin means there is not much room for cost mistakes or sloppy execution.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
margin
gross margin holding above 7.1%
that number does most of the explanatory work here. If it slips, 11.0x earnings stops looking like a bargain and starts looking accurate.
earnings
next quarterly report
last quarter came in at $262.99 EPS on $2.41B revenue. You want to see whether that strength repeats instead of vanishing into the 10/100 predictability pattern.
cost risk
feed, freight, and fuel pressure
management can run operations well. It cannot repeal input costs. In a 7.1% gross margin business, that still sets the tone.
trading setup
public float staying tight
about $706M of non-affiliate float is a small trading pool. That can shape volatility more than investors expect from a $5B company.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
10 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not see this as a smooth or easily forecastable earnings story.
risk rank
2
that reads safer than 80% of stocks on balance sheet and stability measures. It does not make the business model itself less cyclical.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for SEB is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$5026
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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