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The Moat Index

Dole plc

DOLE · Agriculture · $1.4B mkt cap · FY2025 filings · No moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

33/ 100
No moat

The four filters

Pricing power28

Median gross margin 8.4% over 3y, very stable.

Returns on capital45

Median ROIC 10.1%, above the 9% hurdle in 67% of years.

Balance-sheet safety34

Net debt/EBITDA 1.8x, interest coverage 3x.

Capital discipline20

Owner earnings -41.5%/yr, share count flat.

Margin of safety

Above valueOn sale
13% below value
Owner earnings (normalized)
$141.9M
Est. intrinsic value / share
$16.57
Recent price
$14.42
Discount to value
13% below value

Conservative model: 9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth (capped at 4%), maintenance capex ≈ min(capex, D&A).

4 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

Dole plc booked $9.2B of revenue in FY2025 in the Agriculture sector and kept 7.8% of it as gross profit — a thin-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 0.6% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

It earned 7.4% on invested capital in FY2025, with a median of 10.1% across 3 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 45/100.

The balance sheet carried $857.5M of total debt in FY2025 against $51.3M of owner earnings — roughly 16.7 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 34/100.

Put together: Returns on Capital is the strongest of the four filters (45/100) and Capital Discipline the weakest (20/100), which is how DOLE lands at 33/100 — a None moat.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

FY2022–FY2025 · 4 fiscal years, normalized from DOLE’s SEC filings

RevenueSales, as filed$9.2B FY2025
$0$5B2022202320242025
Gross marginRevenue kept after cost of goods7.8% FY2025
0%5%2022202320242025
Return on invested capitalOperating profit on the capital employed7.4% FY2025
0%10%20%2022202320242025
Owner earningsCash an owner could take out$51.3M FY2025
$0$100M2022202320242025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in DOLE’s filings for that year — the series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Moat Score history

1 logged reading since Jul 18, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale32.8 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 18, 2026

Score history begins Jul 18, 2026 — the record builds from here and can’t be backfilled.

Tier changesSame-methodology crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

None yet — DOLE has read No moat for every logged capture since Jul 18, 2026.

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record can’t be backfilled, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Track record

How Dole plc’s moat rated in each of the years we can reconstruct from its filings — scored only on what was knowable at the time — and what its price and returns did afterward. The score never saw a price; the two are joined only in hindsight, for education, not as a signal.

As-of scores 2022–2025, one methodology version · reconstructed from filings on file each Dec 31 — never with hindsight

As-of Moat Score (dot colored by tier)Indexed price (total-return (dividends reinvested))Rated Wide-moat that year

How to read this: each dot is what the engine would have scored DOLE on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatAs-of Moat Score100Indexed price · log scale 2022202320242025

Two tracks, one timeline: the score has its own 0–100 scale (top), the price its own 100-based scale (bottom) — never a shared axis. The indexed price path isn't available for this company yet; gaps in the score line are years with no reconstructed rating (see the table for why). The Table view carries every value.

What followed, in the years it rated Wide

In the reconstructed history shown, DOLE did not rate Wide-moat in any year, so there is no wide-moat track record to report. That absence is itself the honest answer — we don’t manufacture a comparison where the rating never earned one.

Agriculture context

#4 of 18 scored Agriculture companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #2GTBIF GREEN THUMB INDUSTRIES INC.45.6Shallow moat
  2. #3TSNDF TERRASCEND CORP.35.0No moat
  3. #5CWBHF Charlotte's Web Holdings, Inc.32.7No moat
  4. #6VRNO Verano Holdings Corp.32.2No moat

Compare DOLE with its nearest peers →All Agriculture companies on the Index →

Common questions about DOLE

Does Dole plc have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores Dole plc (DOLE) 32.8 out of 100 — below the Shallow-moat bar, so no moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 28, returns on capital 45, balance-sheet safety 34, capital discipline 20.
Is DOLE stock trading below its intrinsic value?
Against a deliberately conservative owner-earnings model (9% discount rate, 0% assumed growth, capped at 4%), estimated intrinsic value is $16.57 per share versus a recent price of $14.42 — 13% below value. This is an educational estimate computed from primary SEC filings, not investment advice.
How has DOLE's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 1 reading since Jul 18, 2026; the latest reads 32.8 out of 100 (no moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.
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Scored from primary SEC filings via the public methodology. Educational only — not a recommendation to buy or sell DOLE. See the disclaimer.