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German plant-breeding company developing and selling seeds for sugar beet, corn, cereals and other crops worldwide.
German plant-breeding company developing and selling seeds for sugar beet, corn, cereals and other crops worldwide.
Sells seed to farmers each season at prices that reflect the yield gain its varieties give, with sugar beet the strongest line. Breeding a new variety takes about a decade, so results depend on earlier research. Family shareholders control the company.
In one line: A German Corteva/Bayer Crop Science for seeds, but smaller and seed-focused.
Moat: narrow (IP / patents, process know-how, brand). World-leading sugar-beet genetics and long breeding-program lead times create durable IP-based advantages, but corn/cereal seed markets are more competitive.
Headquarters: Einbeck, Germany · Founded: 1856 · Employees: 4,983
Size KWS SAAT SE & Co KGaA (KWS.DE) is a Germany Industrials company (Miscellaneous Commercial Services) with a market value of $2.48B, the 99th largest of 205 Germany companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at €66.90 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 12.4%, against +3.1% for the median peer and +2.6% for the Germany market (cap-weighted) — 7th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 3.0% over the last twelve months (peer median +20.1%); the operating margin is 14.7% (peer median 18.9%).
Valuation It trades at 13.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 21.0× (6th cheapest of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -8% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +4%, so the hurdle is -13 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.4 points above its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 18 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | €1.63B | €1.63B | €1.68B | €1.68B | €1.50B |
| Revenue growth | — | -3% | 0% | +12% | — |
| Gross profit | n/a | €995M | €1.06B | €1.06B | €910M |
| EBITDA | €343M | €317M | €358M | €372M | €295M |
| Net income | €161M | €161M | €128M | €131M | €127M |
| Free cash flow | n/a | €82.0M | €114M | €10.9M | €20.8M |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | €109M | €122M | €151M | €110M |
| Total debt | €457M | €457M | €484M | €659M | €790M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KWS SAAT SE & Co KGaA KWS.DE | $2.48B | -12% | -3% | 15% | 13.2× | -8.2% |
| Corteva CTVA | $7.94B | -85% | +4% | 17% | 30.4× | -16.6% |
| Bayer BAYN.DE | $61.2B | +46% | -2% | 14% | 12.3× | 2.1% |
| Sakata Seed 1377.T | $1.13B | +2% | +12% | 11% | 16.2× | 0.2% |
| Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture 000998.SZ | $1.77B | -11% | -5% | 5% | 46.5× | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | KWS.DE | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -1.6% | -1.9% | 11th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -12.4% | +3.1% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -17.0% | -24.1% | 6th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -3.0% | +20.1% | lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 14.7% | 18.9% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 13.2× | 21.0× | 6th cheapest of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -8.2% | 5.2% | least demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +4.4% | +16.9% | 3rd lowest of 15 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -12.6 pp | -9.0 pp | 7th least demanding of 15 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.4 pp | +1.3 pp | 7th highest of 19 |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.6× | 12.2× | 2nd cheapest of 13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2× | 0.8× | 6th least indebted of 13 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KWS SAAT SE & Co KGaA KWS.DE | Germany | $2.48B | -12% | -3% | 15% | 13.2× | -8.2% | +4.4% |
| S-1 012750.KS | South Korea | $2.45B | +14% | +1% | 7% | 21.8× | -1.2% | +5.4% |
| Visional 4194.T | Japan | $2.51B | +32% | +24% | 25% | 20.2× | -2.4% | +28.2% |
| CECEP Environmental Protection 300140.SZ | China | $2.51B | -18% | -2% | 23% | n/a | -1.2% | +26.0% |
| Shanghai GenTech 688596.SS | China | $2.42B | +56% | +4% | 2% | 76.5× | n/a | n/a |
| V2X VVX | United States | $2.39B | +9% | +13% | 4% | 11.3× | -1.4% | +26.3% |
| Ardentec 3264.TWO | Taiwan | $2.36B | -30% | +32% | 30% | 12.3× | 5.2% | +7.7% |
| Hui Lyu Ecological Technology Groups 001267.SZ | China | $2.61B | -59% | +90% | 10% | 71.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Sigurd Microelectronics 6257.TW | Taiwan | $2.33B | -19% | +12% | 22% | 14.0× | n/a | n/a |
| International Workplace IWG.L | United Kingdom | $2.63B | +12% | 0% | 4% | 22.5× | 33.6% | +3.3% |
| Huron Consulting HURN | United States | $2.63B | +39% | +12% | 12% | 16.5× | -4.0% | +14.3% |
| Suzhou Nanomicro Technology 688690.SS | China | $2.31B | +17% | +26% | 25% | 57.1× | 35.3% | +35.2% |
| TIC Solutions TIC | United States | $2.26B | +5% | +39% | -1% | n/a | 51.8% | n/a |
| Pluxee PLX.PA | France | $2.72B | 0% | +1% | 28% | 8.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) 688796.SS | China | $2.22B | -19% | +40% | 24% | 92.6× | 32.3% | +41.1% |
| China Automotive Engineering Research Institute 601965.SS | China | $2.18B | -8% | +12% | 24% | 13.2× | -5.6% | +7.9% |
| Firstsource Solutions FSL.NS | India | $2.16B | +25% | +20% | 12% | 22.0× | 20.3% | +13.5% |
| CoreCivic CXW | United States | $2.84B | +41% | +24% | 10% | 12.1× | -1.6% | +3.0% |
| Sagility SAGILITY.NS | India | $2.15B | +2% | +28% | 18% | 16.4× | 10.3% | +19.5% |
| Inventurus Knowledge Solutions IKS.NS | India | $2.94B | -2% | +20% | 31% | 31.8× | 21.2% | +45.8% |
| Jiangsu Boqian New Materials Stock 605376.SS | China | $2.94B | -43% | +76% | 20% | 38.8× | n/a | n/a |