Seaboard Corp /de/ (SEB) · Nov 3, 2026 · Earnings
Miss — EPS $29.23 vs $113.71 prior year; no published consensus
Seaboard earnings show higher sales but a sharp Q3 profit decline, with the quarterly dividend unchanged at $2.25.
Seaboard is a diversified agribusiness, shipping, energy and food company whose current story had been improving first-half profitability, but with commodity volatility and uncertainty around the repair of its EDM III power barge clouding the rest of 2026. The company operates across Pork, commodity trading and milling, Marine, Liquid Fuels, Power and Turkey.
The quarter was materially weaker than the prior-year comparison. Third-quarter sales rose 9% to $2.771 billion, but operating income fell 85% to $13 million and net earnings attributable to Seaboard dropped 74% to $28 million. The filing contains no segment detail, so this 8-K alone does not establish which businesses drove the deterioration. 〔0〕
| Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | 9M 2026 | 9M 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales (Financial Highlights) | $2,771 (+9.1%) | $2,540 | $8,093 | $7,336 |
| Operating income (Financial Highlights) | $13 (-84.5%) | $84 | $209 | $174 |
| Net earnings (Financial Highlights) | $28 (-74.3%) | $109 | $300 | $243 |
| Earnings per share (Financial Highlights) | $29.23 (-74.3%) | $113.71 | $313.22 | $251.47 |
| Dividend per share (Financial Highlights) | $2.25 | $2.25 | $6.75 | $6.75 |
The broader year-to-date picture is less damaged, but momentum clearly worsened in Q3. Nine-month operating income was still up 20% and net earnings were up 23% from 2025, meaning the filing does not overturn the full-year improvement story. But the sharp third-quarter reversal is a meaningful setback to the expectation that first-half gains would carry through the year. There is no reliable published Q3 analyst consensus for this lightly covered company, so the cleanest benchmark is its own prior-year performance rather than a claimed consensus beat or miss.
The dividend is steady, not a new positive signal. The board declared another $2.25 quarterly dividend, payable November 23, 2026, matching the prior quarterly and nine-month amounts. This supports continuity, but it does not offset the earnings deterioration.
The underlying cause remains unclear in this filing. Seaboard’s prior quarterly report had already disclosed that EDM III was nonoperational for an undetermined repair period and that Power might not be profitable for the remainder of 2026. That makes some pressure partly known, but the magnitude of the Q3 earnings drop is new; the release provides no segment results or management explanation to separate the power issue from pork, commodity-trading, marine or other operating volatility.
Bottom line: Seaboard is still ahead year to date, but Q3 shows a sharp loss of earnings momentum. With no consensus benchmark available, the result reads as a clear deterioration versus the company’s own prior-year performance, not a routine earnings print.
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