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Seaboard Corp key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Seaboard Corp had return on equity of 10.0%, an operating margin of 2.5%, debt equal to 27.5% of equity and a current ratio of 2.40. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMJul 2026
Gross margin6.0%12.0%10.9%9.1%7.0%10.5%7.1%9.2%9.5%8.4%6.5%8.1%8.9%9.2%3.3%6.3%7.1%8.1%
Operating margin0.7%7.3%7.1%5.0%3.1%6.6%2.3%4.3%4.1%3.6%1.6%3.4%5.0%5.8%−0.9%1.7%2.5%3.4%
Net margin2.6%6.5%6.0%4.6%3.2%5.7%3.1%5.8%4.3%0.0%4.2%4.0%6.2%5.2%2.4%1.0%5.1%6.2%
Free-cash-flow margin5.3%5.4%0.6%1.7%−0.4%3.9%5.0%5.0%1.2%1.2%−2.6%0.4%−4.0%1.8%2.1%0.1%0.1%−0.2%
Return on equity6.0%17.1%17.9%12.9%8.9%14.1%6.1%10.3%7.5%0.1%8.3%7.6%13.8%12.3%4.7%1.9%10.0%11.9%
Return on assets—10.4%12.0%8.9%6.3%10.3%4.2%6.8%5.0%0.1%4.9%4.4%8.2%7.5%2.9%1.2%6.2%7.5%
Asset turnover—1.602.001.951.971.821.381.171.171.261.171.121.331.461.241.191.231.21
Current ratio—2.332.912.633.013.233.483.633.823.862.873.122.612.632.522.502.402.40
Debt to equity0.0%5.2%7.6%6.3%3.7%3.2%18.2%16.4%15.8%23.5%22.1%20.0%27.9%23.2%27.1%27.5%27.5%29.1%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)1.8x57.0x59.3x28.0x18.5x21.2x7.0x7.9x8.3x5.4x3.1x12.9x35.2x16.4xn/m2.2x3.4x4.8x
Effective tax rate−2.6%22.3%22.4%23.0%13.0%31.3%28.6%18.2%42.4%72.7%1.0%1.0%10.2%−0.5%—63.4%−22.2%−5.3%
R&D as % of revenue—————————1.2%2.1%1.9%2.1%1.9%3.8%1.2%0.7%—
SG&A as % of revenue5.4%4.7%3.8%4.1%4.0%3.9%4.8%5.0%5.3%4.8%4.9%4.6%3.9%3.3%4.2%4.6%4.7%4.7%
Capital spending as % of revenue1.5%2.4%3.2%2.6%2.2%1.9%2.5%2.9%3.0%2.5%5.1%3.6%5.0%4.2%5.3%5.6%5.8%4.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income207.7%83.4%10.5%36.5%−11.8%68.9%162.0%86.2%29.1%>999%−62.0%11.3%−64.6%34.8%90.3%9.1%1.2%−3.6%
Dividends ÷ net income4.0%3.9%—5.1%————2.8%233.3%3.5%3.5%1.8%1.7%4.4%10.2%1.8%1.4%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow3.7%17.3%27.5%40.0%—20.9%——9.7%15.8%—71.9%—5.0%299.0%212.5%800.0%—

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

4 of 7 checks passed · July 4, 2026
What it owns · $8.7bn
Short-term assets $4.0bnLonger-term assets $4.6bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $8.7bn
Short-term liabilities $1.7bnLonger-term liabilities $1.5bnShareholders' equity $5.5bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $4.0bn of assets due within a year against $1.7bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $4.0bn short-term assets against $1.5bn of longer-dated liabilities.
  • More cash than debt $145m of cash against $972m of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 18% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 16% to 18% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $477m of operating cash flow against $972m of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $345m against $72m of interest.

From Seaboard Corp's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

41 /100

Weak moat

How hard Seaboard's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 5 / 20

    Net income has been a median 4.4% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 8 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 7.5%, moving by 1.6 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 7 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 3.3%; its worst year was 1.6%.

  • Cash conversion 6 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 6 of 10 years, at a median 0.1% of revenue.

  • Discipline 15 / 20

    The diluted share count fell 17.5% over five years.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Seaboard Corp's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Seaboard Corp.