CluenexDarling Ingredients DAR
Darling Ingredients scores weak on business quality (3.7 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Darling Ingredients does
Darling Ingredients transforms edible and inedible bio-nutrients into sustainable ingredients, collecting organic waste from the food industry and converting it into specialized products like proteins, fats, and renewable diesel.
- What it does best
Darling dominates the global collection of animal co-products and food waste, backed by a gross margin of 26.3% that outpaces peers like ADM at 6.9%. This scale creates heavy logistical barriers for rivals who lack specialized transport fleets.
- The main risk
Heavy debt loads create structural vulnerability, with an interest coverage ratio of just 2.7x leaving little margin for error if earnings compress. Rising borrowing costs directly pressure the bottom line when debt sits near $3.9 billion.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margins rest at 9.3% with net margins at 9.1%, reflecting a stable baseline that faces pressure from high leverage costs and keeps overall profitability scores low.
Scale and physical asset infrastructure form a regional collection network moat, locking in food processors who rely on dependable waste removal. Its revenue growth ranks in the top quartile at the 76th percentile of its sector.
Revenue grew 7.4% to $6.5 billion over the latest period, showing a modest rebound compared to the bumpy trajectory seen across prior annual history summaries.
Debt-to-equity sits at 0.8x with total debt at $3.9 billion against $552 million in free cash flow, pointing to a softer financial reality that requires careful cash management.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
1 insider bought $61K on the open market. 5 sold $2.1M outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on DAR
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Darling Ingredients scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (3.7 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat weak, growth slow and financial health weak.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 insider bought $61K on the open market. 5 sold $2.1M outside pre-planned sales.
Oct 29, 2026, after the close.
See DAR today
- Today's verdict on DAR, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Darling Ingredients (DAR)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/dar/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.