Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) posted worse than expected fourth quarter earnings results on Tuesday, as both profit and revenue fell short of expectations.

Written by StockNews.com

The Decatur, IL-based agricultural commodities maker reported adjusted Q4 EPS of $0.75, which was $0.05 worse than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $0.80. Revenues rose 0.3% from last year to $16.5 billion, also missing analysts’ $16.71 billion view.

ADM noted that trailing four-quarter-average adjusted return on invested capital (ROIC) was 5.9% percent, 70 basis points below annual weighted cost of capital (WACC) of 6.6%.

ADM also declared a 32 cent per share dividend, which is payable March 14, 2017, to shareholders of record on Feb. 21, 2017. The company noted it’s now gone 85 straight years of uninterrupted dividends.

The company commented via press release:

“Ag Services saw strong results in North America and weak results from the global trade desk. The Corn business delivered a good quarter, led by sweeteners and starches, and saw solid results from bioproducts. Oilseeds results were comparable to last year despite lower global crush margins. In WFSI, WILD Flavors continued to deliver earnings growth, while some of our specialty ingredients businesses faced challenges, which we are addressing.”

...Year-to-date, ADM has declined -3.57%, versus a 2.42% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

ADM currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of B (Buy), and is ranked #11 of 23 stocks in the Agriculture category.