The Filing Desk

Dole

DOLE · NYSE · Consumer Staples · Financials, fiscal 2019 to 2025

DOLE · Last close · October 26, 2026
$13.30
Value Dole yourself

Dole's revenue rose 8.2% to $9.2 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 2.4%, down from 3.3% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $2 million, down 99.0%. It paid out $32 million in dividends and buybacks, 1847% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 0.5%.

Dole plc Latest fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 10-K filed March 2, 2026 · 0001857475-26-000028 Updated
Revenue
$9.2B
8.2%
Operating margin
2.4%
0.9 pts
Net income
$51M
59.1%
Free cash flow
$2M
99.0%
Return on capital
6.3%
2.8 pts
Market cap
$1.3B
Oct 26 close
P/E
25.1x
On $0.53 EPS, FY25

Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.

What Dole does

Dole plc grows, buys, ships and sells fresh fruit and vegetables. It handles more than 300 products, sources them from over 100 countries and distributes them in more than 85 countries. Its customers include grocery stores, wholesalers, mass merchandisers, foodservice operators, club stores and convenience stores, and it says no one customer accounted for a major share of 2025 sales. Its best-known brand is DOLE.

It reports three segments. Fresh Fruit covers bananas, pineapples and plantains, mostly grown in Latin America on company-owned and leased farms and by independent growers. Approximately one-third of the bananas it markets and 75% of its pineapples come from its own production. It also runs refrigerated ships and sells spare cargo space to other shippers. Diversified Fresh Produce, Europe, the Middle East and Africa sells imported and local produce across Europe. Diversified Fresh Produce, Americas and the Rest of the World markets items such as avocados, kiwis, apples, berries and cherries.

On August 5, 2025, Dole sold its Fresh Vegetables division for approximately $140.0 million, and it reports that division as discontinued operations. It owns approximately 112,000 acres of farms and other land.

Its biggest risks, as it describes them

  • Bad weather, natural disasters, crop disease and pests, including a banana disease called Tropical Race 4.
  • Product contamination and product liability claims.
  • Swings in market prices and demand for its produce, and changes in the cost of the fruit it buys.
  • Strong competition, and reliance on a few key customers and key suppliers.
  • Debt, underfunded pension plans and trade or tariff policy changes that could hurt its results.
From Dole's annual report on Form 10-K, filed March 2, 2026, in our words; the 10-K has the full description and every risk factor. Updated with each new 10-K.

Revenue and margins

Revenue
US$ billions, fiscal years
Margins
Percent of revenue
GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow

Net income and earnings per share

From fiscal 2019 to 2025, earnings per share fell 9.9% a year and net income 1.2% a year, as new shares raised the share count by 72% and diluted each share's earnings.

Net income
US$ billions, fiscal years; loss years in red.
Diluted earnings per share
US$ per share, fiscal years, restated for any stock splits; loss years in red.

Returns on capital

Return on capital and on equity
Percent. Return on capital is after-tax operating income over the money invested in the business (debt plus equity, minus cash); return on equity is net income over shareholders' equity. Both use the average of opening and closing balances.
Return on capitalReturn on equity

Cash flow

Free cash flow
US$ billions. Cash from operations minus capital expenditure; negative years in red.

Payouts and share count

Dividends and buybacks
US$ billions, cash paid in each fiscal year
DividendsShare buybacks
Diluted share count
Weighted-average diluted shares, millions

Valuation

Two ways to value Dole yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.

Discounted cash flow (DCF)

A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from Dole's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.

Value per share on three example scenarios, from Dole's fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $2M, net cash of −$600M at December 31, 2025 and 96 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to Dole: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 4.6% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 9%: 7% for a stable business (Agricultural Products & Services), plus 1 point as a smaller company, worth $1.3B, plus 1 point for unsteady results (a loss in fiscal 2021); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target. A negative value means Dole's net debt is larger than what that scenario's cash flows are worth today.

From the filings
Cash from operations minus capital spending in fiscal 2025.
Cash and short-term investments minus debt and finance leases at December 31, 2025. Negative means net debt.
Weighted-average diluted shares in fiscal 2025.
Your assumptions
Start from
Fitted to Dole's own revenue growth, as above. Cautious: growth of 2.5% then 2% a year, 2% after year 10, a 10% discount rate. Base: growth of 4.5% then 3.5% a year, 2.5% after year 10, a 9% discount rate. Optimistic: growth of 7% then 5% a year, 3% after year 10, a 8% discount rate.
Long-run growth forever after year 10. Usually close to inflation, and always below the discount rate.
The yearly return an investor wants for the risk. A higher rate gives a lower value.
Value per share on these assumptions
—
—
Last close, October 26, 2026
$13.30
Value on these assumptions, against the last close
—

Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
—
Everything after year 10, valued today
—
Plus net cash
—
Share of value from after year 10
—
Projected free cash flow
US$ billions. Each column is one year's projected free cash flow, split into what it is worth today and the part removed by discounting.
Value todayRemoved by discounting

How the value changes with two assumptions

Value per share in US$, with the growth rates above. The highlighted cell matches the current assumptions.
How the model works. Free cash flow grows at the first rate for five years and the second rate for five more, and each year is discounted at the discount rate. Everything after year 10 is valued as year-10 cash flow × (1 + growth after year 10) ÷ (discount rate − growth after year 10), discounted back ten years. Net cash is added and the total is divided by diluted shares. The result depends entirely on the assumptions. It is not a forecast, a price target or a recommendation. The last close is the consolidated US closing price, from Databento.

Price-to-earnings (P/E) method

Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.

Value per share on three example scenarios, from Dole's earnings per share of $0.53 (in fiscal 2025). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 24×, the middle of Dole's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (the Consumer Staples median) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 10%, 9% and 8%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.

Diluted earnings per share in fiscal 2025, from the 10-K.
P/E today is the last close divided by the latest earnings per share, the four quarters' where available. Peers: Ingredion, Darling Ingredients, Bunge Global, Archer Daniels Midland.
Starts at Dole's revenue growth over the last 3 years, 4.6% a year, as the base scenario does.
Earnings per share in the years ahead, US$
Type your own estimate for any year; the years after it carry on at the growth rate.
Apply the multiple to earnings
A multiple on a future year's earnings gives the price then, brought back to today at the discount rate below.
The yearly return an investor wants for the risk, as in the cash flow model.
Value per share today at this multiple
—
—
Last close, October 26, 2026
$13.30
Value at this multiple, against the last close
—
Dole's P/E at the last close
25.1×
CompanyLast closeEarnings per shareP/E today
DoleDOLE$13.30$0.5325.1×
Bunge GlobalBG$102.22$4.2923.8×
Archer Daniels MidlandADM$79.01$3.6521.6×
Darling IngredientsDAR$57.16$3.7115.4×
IngredionINGR$95.43$9.1710.4×
How the P/E method works. Value per share is earnings per share times the multiple. On a future year's earnings, that gives the price in that year, which is brought back to today at the discount rate: price ÷ (1 + discount rate) for each year ahead. It is quick and easy to compare across companies, but it ignores debt and cash, and earnings can swing with one-off gains and charges, so a multiple says most about steady, profitable businesses. Like the cash flow model, the result depends entirely on the assumptions you choose. It is not a forecast, a price target or a recommendation.

Balance sheet

Fiscal year endFY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Cash and short-term investments257234282336274
Debt incl. finance leases1,4001,2511,094967874
Net debt (negative means net cash)1,1431,017812631600
Net debt to EBITDA20.1x3.6x2.2x1.7x1.8x
Debt to equity1.3x1.1x0.9x0.8x0.6x
Interest coverage−0.3x3.1x3.4x3.9x3.4x
Current ratio1.2x1.1x1.1x1.2x1.2x
Quick ratio0.9x0.8x0.9x0.9x0.8x
US$ millions unless stated, at each fiscal year end. Net debt to EBITDA is debt minus cash, divided by operating income before depreciation and amortization: roughly how many years of those earnings the net debt equals. Debt to equity is debt as a multiple of shareholders' equity. Interest coverage is operating income divided by interest expense. The current ratio is current assets over current liabilities; the quick ratio leaves out inventory.

Insider trades

Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, 1 insider bought $8.6 million of Dole shares on the open market, and none sold any.

DateInsiderTradeSharesPriceValueFiling
Oct 22, 2026Pale Fire Capital SE10% ownerBought163,780$13.39$2.2 millionForm 4
Oct 21, 2026Pale Fire Capital SE10% ownerBought438,900$13.12$5.8 millionForm 4
Oct 20, 2026Pale Fire Capital SE10% ownerBought45,676$13.24$604,586Form 4
Oct 12, 2026Pale Fire Capital SE10% ownerBought5,700$13.28$75,721Form 4
Open-market purchases and sales by officers, directors and 10% owners, from their Form 4 filings with the SEC: one row per person, day and filing, at the day's average price. Grants, option exercises and shares withheld for tax aren't counted. Insiders buy and sell for many reasons, such as taxes, spreading their savings or a plan set up months earlier, so a trade on its own says little about where a company is heading. For information only, not investment advice. Insider trades at all companies

Piotroski F-score

The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.

TestFY23FY24FY25
Net income is positivePassPassPass
Cash from operations is positivePassPassPass
Return on assets rosePassPassFail
Cash from operations exceeds net incomePassPassPass
Debt fell relative to assetsPassPassPass
Current ratio rosePassPassPass
Share count didn't riseFailFailFail
Gross margin rosePassPassFail
Revenue rose relative to assetsPassPassPass
F-score8 of 98 of 96 of 9
Accruals ratio−3.8%−3.0%−1.6%
The accruals ratio is net income minus cash from operations, over average total assets.

Compare

Put Dole side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.

Similar companies

CompanyYearRevenue growthOperating marginFree cash flow marginReturn on capitalNet debt to EBITDAF-scoreCompare
DoleFY258.2%2.4%0.0%6.3%1.8x6
IngredionFY25−2.8%14.1%7.1%16.0%0.6x8Compare
Darling IngredientsFY257.4%4.5%11.1%3.2%5.0x7Compare
Bunge GlobalFY2532.4%—−1.2%6.1%5.0x4Compare
Archer Daniels MidlandFY25−6.2%—5.2%5.2%2.4x5Compare
Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so the periods don't line up exactly. Free cash flow margin is free cash flow as a share of revenue. Net debt to EBITDA is explained under the balance sheet, and the F-score above.

7 years of figures

Fiscal yearFY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Income statement
Revenue4,1674,3465,9448,0248,2458,4759,173
Revenue growth—4.3%36.8%35.0%2.8%2.8%8.2%
Gross profit302334344600694718714
Research and development0049999
Operating income4867−9175272281223
Net income5552−78612412651
Diluted EPS (US$)0.990.94−0.100.911.301.320.53
Diluted shares (millions)56567295959696
Cash flow
Cash from operations7514516239299263123
Capital expenditure272359867882122
Free cash flow48121−421532211802
Dividends paid15121730303132
Share buybacks0000000
Acquisitions501045112
Stock-based compensation0014687
Balance sheet at fiscal year end
Cash and short-term investments130160257234282336274
Debt incl. finance leases—3561,4001,2511,094967874
Total assets—1,8864,6684,5924,5614,4464,396
Total liabilities—1,1983,4233,2733,1403,0112,894
Shareholders' equity6145351,0811,1611,2501,2931,364
Margins and ratios
Gross margin7.3%7.7%5.8%7.5%8.4%8.5%7.8%
Operating margin1.1%1.5%−0.1%2.2%3.3%3.3%2.4%
Net margin1.3%1.2%−0.1%1.1%1.5%1.5%0.6%
Free cash flow margin1.2%2.8%−0.7%1.9%2.7%2.1%0.0%
Return on capital——−0.4%7.5%9.5%9.1%6.3%
Return on equity——−0.9%7.7%10.3%9.9%3.9%
Return on assets——−0.2%1.9%2.7%2.8%1.2%
Net debt to EBITDA—1.9x20.1x3.6x2.2x1.7x1.8x
US$ millions unless stated. Where a later 10-K restated a year, the latest filed figure is shown. Download all figures (CSV, US$ millions)
Source: Dole's Form 10-K filings, from SEC EDGAR. For information only, not investment advice. The Filing Desk is not affiliated with Dole.