Archer-Daniels Midland Company Stock Hold Recommendation Reiterated (ADM)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Archer-Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a hold with a ratings score of C . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its reasonable valuation levels and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and poor profit margins.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.58, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Even though the company has a strong debt-to-equity ratio, the quick ratio of 0.49 is very weak and demonstrates a lack of ability to pay short-term obligations.
• Despite the weak revenue results, ADM has outperformed against the industry average of 10.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 0.4%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The gross profit margin for ARCHER-DANIELS-MIDLAND CO is currently extremely low, coming in at 4.70%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 0.83% trails that of the industry average.
• Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to $483.00 million or 76.85% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company manufactures and sells protein meal, vegetable oil, corn sweeteners, flour, biodiesel, ethanol, and other value-added food and feed ingredients. Archer-Daniels Midland has a market cap of $17.59 billion and is part of the consumer goods sector and food & beverage industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 18.5, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are down 6.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

You can view the full Archer-Daniels Midland Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

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