About Dole plc
Dole plc engages in sourcing, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Fresh Fruit; Diversified Fresh Produce - EMEA; Diversified Fresh Produce - Americas and ROW; and Fresh Vegetables. It offers bananas, pineapples grapes, berries, avocados, deciduous fruit, and organic produce; value added salads, which includes packaged salad and meal kits; and fresh packed vegetables, such as iceberg, romaine, leaf lettuces, and celery, as well as health foods and consumer goods.
The company serves retailers, wholesalers, and foodservice customers. Dole plc is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
DOLE operates in the Agriculture, Forestry, And Fishing | Agriculture | approximately 38,500 employees | led by CEO Rory P. Byrne.
$1.3 billion 10.2x P/E 1.0x P/B 4.7x EV/EBITDA 10.0% ROE 2.8% rev. growth 2.4% yield
Our six-factor quantitative model, which ranks 7,333 publicly traded U.S. companies on quality, value, momentum, investment efficiency, financial stability, and short interest positioning, assigns Dole plc a Strong Buy rating with a composite score of 75/100 — placing it at rank #7 in the entire universe.
What makes this rating noteworthy is not any single exceptional factor, but the breadth of strength across the profile. Dole plc's dominant factor is value at 93/100, followed closely by investment efficiency at 85/100. Even the weakest factor, momentum at 68/100, sits comfortably above average.
At $1.3 billion, Dole plc operates in the Agriculture, Forestry, And Fishing sector where it ranks 1st out of 17 stocks — the 94th percentile among its peers. A dividend yield of 2.4% adds an income component to the total return thesis.
Quality Analysis
Dole plc's quality score of 84/100 places it among the top profitability performers in the market. The quality factor evaluates margins, return on equity, return on assets, and earnings consistency — the fundamental building blocks of a durable business.
Return on equity of 10.0% exceeds the sector median of -2.5%. Gross margins of 8.5% suggest a commodity-like business with thin pricing power. Operating margins of 3.3% sit above the -1.0% sector average.
Net margins of 1.7% are positive but thin, leaving limited margin for error.
Valuation Assessment
A value score of 93/100 puts DOLE in the top 7 percent of all stocks on cheapness — suggesting the market is significantly underpricing the company's fundamentals. Key valuation metrics include a P/E ratio of 10.2x, an EV/EBITDA of 4.7x, a price-to-book of 1.0x, a price-to-sales of 0.1x. Deep value scores like this historically correlate with above-average forward returns, though they can also reflect legitimate concerns about business quality that the value factor does not capture.
Momentum & Timing
A momentum score of 68/100 shows DOLE is trending above average, with its stock price outperforming the majority of the market. This is not explosive, meme-stock-style momentum — it is the gradual, fundamental-driven kind that tends to persist.
Revenue growth of 2.8% provides a moderate fundamental underpinning. A beta of 0.39 means Dole plc moves with less volatility than the market, which can be attractive for risk-conscious investors.
Our entry timing model currently signals Neutral, which warrants caution despite the price trend.
Risk Factors
No investment comes without risks, and honest analysis requires flagging them clearly:
- Thin margins. Operating margins of 3.3% leave little room for error. A modest revenue shortfall or cost increase could push the company into unprofitability.
- Model limitations. Quantitative models measure what is measurable — financial ratios, price trends, leverage — but cannot capture qualitative factors like management quality, competitive positioning, or pending litigation. This analysis should be supplemented with fundamental due diligence.
- Market regime risk. Factor-based strategies perform differently across market regimes. The current factor exposures that support Dole plc's rating may become headwinds if the macro environment shifts — for example, if interest rates move sharply or if sector rotation accelerates.
Bottom Line
Dole plc earns a Strong Buy rating with a composite score of 75/100 and 5 out of 5 stars, ranking #7 out of 7,333 stocks. The quantitative profile is among the strongest in the market — not because of any single factor, but because of consistent strength across multiple dimensions.
Stocks with this multi-factor profile have historically delivered above-average risk-adjusted returns over three to twelve month horizons. Whether that pattern holds for DOLE specifically is, of course, uncertain — quantitative models identify probabilities, not certainties.
Explore the full DOLE analysis page for interactive factor breakdowns, DCF valuation, and risk analytics, or view the complete stock rankings.
Analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
