No. of Recommendations: 2
I didn't know where else to post about Seaboard. It was a small cap a year ago and still is not so large, with a $5B market cap currently. If you aren't familiar with the company, I apologize in advance for using a generated summary from Gemini
Core Business Segments
* Pork (Seaboard Foods): A top U.S. producer. They own the farms, feed mills, and plants that produce Prairie Fresh pork and Daily’s Premium Meats (bacon).
* Commodity Trading & Milling (CT&M): A global grain giant. They trade and mill wheat, corn, and soy, primarily serving markets across Africa and South America.
* Marine (Seaboard Marine): A dedicated shipping fleet connecting the U.S. to the Caribbean and Latin America.
* Liquid Fuels: They convert pork processing byproducts (fats) into renewable diesel, effectively turning waste into energy.
* Power: They operate floating power barges that supply electricity to the Dominican Republic.
* Turkey (Butterball): Seaboard owns 50% of Butterball, the most recognized turkey brand in the United States.They have been on my watch list for a long time. They traded very thinly - the share price is very high, and they are a controlled company with a single family having approximately 3/4 of voting power.
As of one year ago, they were at $2500/share and had daily volume on the order of 10k shares. In the last year the share price has doubled, currently just under $5600/share. Daily volume has increased about tenfold.
They were, and to some degree are, still a bargain. Annual revenue is $10B, P/E is volatile but around 15. They have limited debt, and trade about 10% above book.
My digging indicates about a third of the 2025 profit was the result of a one time tax gain. I thought the share price appreciation was due to a buyback, but the FY25 10-K (
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/00...) indicates they have $62M left on a $100M repurchase program, and only bought 13,26 shares at an average price around $3000. The buyback would not seem to support the increase in price and volume.
I'm inclined to start a small position based on momentum alone, but that is not my style and I will likely stay on the sidelines. I'm curious if anyone else follows SEB and had any thoughts.
