KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA

KWS.DE

Agricultural Inputs · Basic Materials

Price

€74.10

+0.70 (+0.95%)

Market Cap

€2.45B

Exchange

Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Winston Score

Winston is curious

A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.

Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Mar 31, 2026

How the score breaks down

Quality

Strong

Growth

Good

Cash Flow

Mixed

Stability

Exceptional

Valuation

Strong

Dividends

Weak

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Winston Score History

The full picture

KWS SAAT is a German company that breeds and sells seeds to farmers around the world. Its main products are seeds for crops like sugar beet, corn, cereals, and oilseed rape. It is one of the largest independent seed companies in the world, with a particularly strong position in the European sugar beet seed market.

KWS makes money by selling seeds directly to farmers and through agricultural distributors, with pricing tied to the value of its proprietary plant varieties. The company operates across Europe, North and South America, and other regions, generating roughly €1.5 billion in annual revenue. Its moat comes from decades of plant breeding expertise and a large library of protected seed varieties, which are difficult and expensive for competitors to replicate. The key growth driver is expanding its corn and cereal seed business in new geographies, while the main risk is that crop price downturns can reduce farmers' willingness to pay for premium seeds.

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+1.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

-9.4% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Earnings declining

R&D Spend

€349M/ year

↑ Rising (+7% vs prior year)

20.8% of revenue

6.9x the sector average (3%)

Investing heavily in future products and technology

Insider Activity

69.3%ownership

→ Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

€364M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Heavy R&D investment

KWS SAAT SE & Co. KGaA is putting 21% of revenue into R&D and that number is rising. That's 6.9x the sector average. And they're generating enough cash to self-fund it.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Share count broadly stable

+0.0% over 4y

The share count has stayed roughly flat over this period — little dilution or buyback activity.

Diluted shares outstanding: 33.0M (2021) → 33.0M (2025)

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Profit per sale

Gross Margin

100.0%

Premium pricing power — 100.0% gross margin

Profit after running costs

Operating Margin

43.5%

Excellent — 43.5% operating margin

Return on the money invested

ROCE

12.2%

Good — 12.2% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth

Sales YoY

+1.1%

Nearly flat sales (+1.1% YoY)

Profit growth

EPS YoY

+26.6%

Earnings growing fast (+26.6% YoY)

Earnings growing 25%+ a year. The compounder zone.

How steady the profit is

EPS Consistency

5/8 quarters

Mixed — about half the quarters showed growth

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash

Cash Conversion

80%

Modest — 80% of profit becomes cash

Spare cash per sale

FCF Margin

-6.2%

Burning cash (-6.2%)

Free cash flow is negative. They are burning cash, not generating it.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns

Debt / Equity

0.27

Conservative — low debt load (0.27)

Covers its interest

Interest Cover

64.33x

Comfortably covers interest (64.3x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

Price vs profit

P/E Ratio (TTM)

15.6x

Fair value — P/E 15.6

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year

P/E vs Forward

+3.7

GROWING

Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (15.6 → 11.9)

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Dividends

Dividend

Dividend Yield

1.76%

Small dividend — 1.76% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend record

Dividend Growth

-26.4%

Dividend cut (-26.4% YoY) — warning sign

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