CluenexSmithfield Foods SFD
Smithfield Foods scores average on business quality (5.2 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Smithfield Foods does
Smithfield Foods makes money processing pork and packaged meats, selling branded protein products to grocery, wholesale, and foodservice customers globally. The company focuses on scaling its packaged meats portfolio to protect margins against volatile live hog commodity cycles.
- What it does best
Smithfield converts scale into strong cash flow, generating $807 million of free cash flow on $15.5 billion in revenue. Its integrated pork supply chain creates a massive cost barrier that smaller independent processors cannot match.
- The main risk
Cyclical commodity swings in live hog prices squeeze processing spreads, directly threatening operating margins when feed costs spike.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin sits at 8.6% and net margin at 6.8%, reflecting thin buffers in a commodity-driven protein business where scale does not translate into high pricing power.
A weak moat anchored in processing scale, sitting in the bottom quartile for gross margins at 13.4% compared to peers like SJM at 39%, leaving it vulnerable to input costs.
Revenue grew 9.8% to $15.5 billion over the latest period, rebounding after several years of flat top-line history.
Debt-to-equity of 0.29 and interest coverage of 38x mean debt costs are a non-issue. Free cash flow reached $807 million, getting stronger.
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.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on SFD
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
Smithfield Foods scores average on the Cluenex quality check (5.2 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat weak, growth slow and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 27, 2026.
See SFD today
- Today's verdict on SFD, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
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- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Smithfield Foods (SFD)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/sfd/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.