Dole (DOLE): Buy, Sell, or Hold Post Q1 Earnings?

Yahoo

27-05-2025

Dole trades at $13.99 per share and has moved almost in lockstep with the market over the last six months. The stock has lost 6.9% while the S&P 500 is down 3.3%. This was partly driven by its softer quarterly results and may have investors wondering how to approach the situation.
Is now the time to buy Dole, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Get the full stock story straight from our expert analysts, it's free.
Despite the more favorable entry price, we're swiping left on Dole for now. Here are three reasons why DOLE doesn't excite us and a stock we'd rather own.
A company's long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Dole's demand was weak over the last three years as its sales fell at a 2% annual rate. This wasn't a great result and signals it's a low quality business.
Forecasted revenues by Wall Street analysts signal a company's potential. Predictions may not always be accurate, but accelerating growth typically boosts valuation multiples and stock prices while slowing growth does the opposite.
Over the next 12 months, sell-side analysts expect Dole's revenue to rise by 1.9%. While this projection suggests its newer products will catalyze better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.
At StockStory, we prefer high gross margin businesses because they indicate pricing power or differentiated products, giving the company a chance to generate higher operating profits.
Dole has bad unit economics for a consumer staples company, signaling it operates in a competitive market and lacks pricing power because its products can be substituted. As you can see below, it averaged a 8.4% gross margin over the last two years. That means Dole paid its suppliers a lot of money ($91.59 for every $100 in revenue) to run its business.
We see the value of companies helping consumers, but in the case of Dole, we're out. Following the recent decline, the stock trades at 10.2× forward P/E (or $13.99 per share). This valuation multiple is fair, but we don't have much confidence in the company. There are better stocks to buy right now. Let us point you toward a fast-growing restaurant franchise with an A+ ranch dressing sauce.
The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025.
While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.