Dole plc (DOLE): A Bull Case Theory

Dole plc engages successful sourcing, processing, marketing, and organisation of caller effect and vegetables worldwide. DOLE is a vertically integrated caller nutrient supplier with starring positions successful bananas, pineapples, and grapes crossed North America and Europe, operating a highly scaled plus basal including 85 farms, 110,000 acres of land, 75 packhouses, 20 ripening facilities, and 13 instrumentality ships. The company’s beardown marketplace positioning, combined with unchangeable post-merger fundamentals, makes it a standout successful a highly competitive, low-margin industry.

Despite being sold disconnected precocious pursuing the passing of longtime proprietor and erstwhile CEO David Murdock, whose 13% involvement was liquidated successful September 2025, Dole’s fundamentals remain robust, with EBITDA maturation averaging 4.9% annually from 2020–2024 and currency travel stableness astir $173 cardinal per year. The institution has successfully reduced leverage from ~5x post-merger to 1.7x arsenic of 3Q25, portion returning superior via tiny dividends and a precocious authorized $100 cardinal stock buyback. Dole generates importantly higher returns connected invested superior compared to peers similar Fresh Del Monte and Chiquita, reflecting businesslike usage of tangible assets successful a capital-intensive business.

The market, however, has mispriced the banal pursuing the non-operational-driven sell-off, creating an charismatic introduction point. At ~$13 per share, DOLE trades astatine ~4.9x FY25 EBITDA and 7–8x escaped currency flow, good beneath adjacent multiples of 6–8x EBITDA, offering meaningful upside potential. With a beardown equilibrium sheet, improving fundamentals, and superior allocation opening to displacement toward shareholder returns, Dole presents a compelling accidental for investors to seizure value, adjacent astatine a blimpish betterment toward pre-liquidation levels adjacent $15 per share, with further upside imaginable if the marketplace recognizes its superior operational ratio and plus returns.

Previously we covered a bullish thesis connected Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (CALM) by Charly AI successful April 2025, which highlighted the company’s maturation driven by elevated ovum prices, strategical acquisitions, and operational efficiency. The company's banal terms has depreciated astir by 10.09% since our coverage. The thesis inactive stands arsenic CALM’s fundamentals stay strong. Value Don't Lie shares a akin position but emphasizes Dole plc’s vertical integration and scale, highlighting an charismatic introduction constituent aft a non-fundamental sell-off.