Seaboard Corp reports results on Tuesday 27 October, after the market closes. Growth is coming with wider margins, so profit is rising faster than sales. Revenue over the twelve months to Q2 2026 was $10.3 billion, which rose 8.2% on the year before.
The trends going in
Growth is speeding up. That growth rate was up 1.6 percentage points on the rate a quarter earlier. The trailing gross margin was 8.1%. The trailing operating margin was 3.4%, up 0.9 percentage points from a year earlier. The trailing net margin was 6.2%. Net income over the twelve months was $634.0 million, which rose 356.1% on the year before.
The cash picture
More cash came in than a year earlier. Operating cash flow over the twelve months was $477.0 million, down 14.1% on the year before. Capital spending was $500.0 million, or 4.9% of revenue. At the same time, free cash flow, operating cash flow less capital spending, was −$23.0 million. Free cash flow was −0.2% of revenue (the free-cash-flow margin), down 0.4 percentage points from a year earlier. The average diluted share count fell 1.3% over the year.
How today compares
In the context of past results: today’s free-cash-flow margin of −0.2% is higher than 29% of the company’s own past quarterly readings, which have ranged from −4.0% to 5.6%. Today’s operating margin of 3.4% is higher than 40% of past readings (1.0% to 8.1%). Today’s twelve-month revenue growth rate of 8.2% is higher than 67% of past readings (−16.1% to 31.7%).
Questions this report will answer
Whether the pick-up in revenue growth continues. Whether margins hold at the trailing levels above. The next filing will show whether the trends above continue, slow or reverse.
