Rising Global Protein Demand And Automation Will Transform Food Processing

Key Takeaways

• Accelerating integration, robust demand across segments, and rapid automation adoption uniquely position JBT Marel for outsized revenue and margin upside beyond analyst expectations.
  
• High global order backlog, proactive cost mitigation, and strong cash flow provide unusual revenue visibility, reduce risk, and enable further return-focused capital allocation.
  
• Overdependence on traditional meat and seafood processing amid protein shifts, integration hurdles, and mounting regulation and cost pressures threaten revenue growth, profitability, and margin expansion.

Catalysts

Provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Central and South America.

• Analyst consensus expects $150 million of synergies over three years, but ongoing outperformance in recurring revenue, accelerating integration, and unexpectedly robust margin expansion in meat and fish suggest that synergy realization could exceed forecasts both in magnitude and timing, creating upside for net margins and earnings.
  
• Analysts broadly agree on strong incremental poultry investments driven by cross-selling, but the 15% jump in North America poultry pipeline and US regulatory approval for significantly higher line speeds indicate not only sustained but potentially step-change demand growth, underscoring a major multi-year acceleration in revenue and earnings from the poultry sector.
  
• Rapid adoption of automation and digital solutions in response to global labor shortages and food safety regulation is driving a secular shift, uniquely positioning JBT Marel as a full-line provider, which could accelerate both high-margin equipment and recurring service revenues much faster than currently embedded in estimates.
  
• The diversified global backlog of $1.4 billion, combined with strong order momentum in both established and emerging markets, gives unusually high future revenue visibility and reduces risk, supporting stronger multi-year top-line growth than analysts currently model.
  
• Proactive tariff mitigation through local sourcing, global manufacturing flexibility, and dynamic pricing puts JBT Marel on track to neutralize cost headwinds well ahead of expectations, potentially restoring and ultimately expanding margins, while strong cash flow and rapid deleveraging create optionality for further return-enhancing capital allocation.

JBT Marel Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• This narrative explores a more optimistic perspective on JBT Marel compared to the consensus, based on a Fair Value that aligns with the bullish cohort of analysts.
• The bullish analysts are assuming JBT Marel's revenue will grow by 18.0% annually over the next 3 years.
• The bullish analysts assume that profit margins will increase from -5.1% today to 20.0% in 3 years time.
• The bullish analysts expect earnings to reach $890.9 million (and earnings per share of $9.68) by about August 2028, up from $-138.4 million today. The analysts are largely in agreement about this estimate.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the price target of the more bullish analyst cohort, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 16.1x on those 2028 earnings, up from -50.6x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the US Machinery industry at 23.2x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 7.0% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 8.63%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

JBT Marel Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• The accelerating shift towards plant-based and alternative proteins represents a significant long-term threat, as the company's core strength remains in traditional meat and seafood processing, potentially dampening equipment demand and impacting future revenue growth.
  
• Heightened environmental regulations and sustainability requirements may increase compliance costs and capital expenditures, and while management highlighted ongoing innovation, a failure to keep pace could erode profitability and dampen net margins over time.
  
• Legacy integration risks remain substantial following the JBT and Marel merger, as executives acknowledged that portfolio integration and R&D standardization are still "a work in process," suggesting possible delays in synergy realization and operational efficiency, which could weigh on earnings and margin expansion.
  
• JBT Marel's revenue is heavily concentrated in meat and fish processing, and management specifically noted that beef-related demand is weak and expected to remain so for the foreseeable future; this overexposure heightens vulnerability to industry volatility and may depress overall revenue and net earnings if demand does not recover or if consolidation reduces the customer base.
  
• The company faces ongoing cost pressures from tariffs, supply chain complexity, and the need for elevated R&D to support automation and digitization; management's discussion of only partial ability to pass through price increases, episodic order delays, and the risk of "leakage" in backlog repricing collectively point to potential risks for revenue conversion and ultimately net margin compression if these headwinds are not effectively offset.

Valuation

• The assumed bullish price target for JBT Marel is $177.5, which is the highest price target estimate amongst analysts. This valuation is based on what can be assumed as the expectations of JBT Marel's future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors from analysts on the bullish end of the spectrum.
  
• However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $177.5, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $85.0.
  
• In order for you to agree with the bullish analysts, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $4.5 billion, earnings will come to $890.9 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 16.1x, assuming you use a discount rate of 8.6%.
  
• Given the current share price of $134.68, the bullish analyst price target of $177.5 is 24.1% higher.
  
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.