Lindsay LNN
A steady irrigation business coming off a one-off Middle East contract. The open question is what earnings look like once that project ends and North American farmers are still not buying. Seven questions that follow the money through the business, the price and the tape. Every number comes from SEC filings and market data, and every score from a rule printed next to it.
What this File stands on. Annual figures: FY2025 10-K (year to 2025-08-31, filed 2025-10-23). "Last 12 months" figures add the quarters through 2026-05-31 (10-Q, filed 2026-07-02). Prices to 2026-10-21. The numbers rebuild every Monday, so each new 10-Q or 10-K appears within a week of filing. The written parts (business, defences, risks, the read) are from the FY2025 10-K and the Q3 FY2026 release, and the terminal read is dated 2026-10-14.
43 cents of every revenue dollar come from Irrigation International, up 39% on the year.
What it does
Builds the big wheeled sprinklers that water farm fields, the software that runs them remotely, and road safety gear such as crash cushions and the Road Zipper movable barrier.
How it charges
Sells Zimmatic center pivots, parts and FieldNET subscriptions through dealers, and sells highway safety products to road agencies. Irrigation is about 84% of revenue, infrastructure about 16%.
Who buys, and why
Farmers, through over 200 independent US dealers and a network abroad, plus road agencies and contractors. One Middle East irrigation project was 13% of revenue in FY2025.
Of every $100 of sales, $6 is left for owners once staff stock pay is counted as a cost.
Owner earnings = operating cash flow minus capital spending minus stock-based pay. Stock pay is a real cost: it is paid in shares instead of cash.
What it is building Harvesting
It spends little on growth. The business is being run for cash, not built.
R&D is treated as an investment written off over 5 years. Capital spending up to depreciation keeps the business standing; anything above it is growth spending. A company that puts more than 10% of sales into R&D and growth capex is building; it is paying off when after-tax profit has grown by at least 12 cents for every extra dollar of capital it put in.
The share count is shrinking 0.3% a year, so each share owns a little more of the business every year.
CEO Randy Wood, in the seat since 2021.
The strongest defence is scale economies. Gross margin has been moving, within 6 points over 6 periods.
A pivot lasts decades and FieldNET adds some lock-in, but a farmer can buy the next system from a rival dealer.
A sprinkler is no more useful because a neighbour owns the same brand.
Four makers control most of the US pivot market, and the dealer network is costly to copy.
Zimmatic is a known farm brand and the Road Zipper has few direct substitutes, but both sit in small niches.
Sources are rated from the annual report (notes file). The two evidence checks are computed: margins that hold and high returns on capital are what a real defence looks like in the numbers.
A reverse discounted cash flow: the growth today's price requires, set against what the business has actually delivered, and how that changes if you demand a different return.
The IVT terminal read on the weekly and daily charts: bias, money flow, strength, whether the entry window is open, and the sharp captures.
The worst fall of the last five years, the balance sheet, the pressure points and the specific conditions that would break the case.
Where the business sits on quality against price, the quality score line by line, and the conclusion.
The rest of the LNN File
Chapters 5 to 8: the growth today\'s price assumes, the full IVT terminal read with sharp captures, what would break the case, and the final read.
Where every number comes from 16 figures, each linked to its SEC filing
| Figure | Value | Period | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $676M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23Revenues |
| Gross profit | $211M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23GrossProfit |
| Cost of sales | $466M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23CostOfRevenue |
| Operating income | $88M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23OperatingIncomeLoss |
| Net income | $74M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23NetIncomeLoss |
| Operating cash flow | $133M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities |
| Capital spending | $42M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment |
| Stock-based pay | $8M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23ShareBasedCompensation |
| Buybacks | $12M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock |
| Dividends | $16M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23PaymentsOfDividends |
| Diluted shares | 11M | FY25 | 10-K, filed 2025-10-23WeightedAverageNumberOfDilutedSharesOutstanding |
| Cash and investments | $155M | 2026-05-31 | 10-Q, filed 2026-07-02CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue |
| Debt due within a year | $89,000 | 2026-05-31 | 10-Q, filed 2026-07-02LongTermDebtCurrent |
| Long-term debt | $115M | 2026-05-31 | 10-Q, filed 2026-07-02LongTermDebtNoncurrent |
| Short-term borrowings | $2M | 2013-02-28 | 10-Q, filed 2013-04-03ShortTermBorrowings |
| Shareholders' equity | $499M | 2026-05-31 | 10-Q, filed 2026-07-02StockholdersEquity |
Revenue fell more than 10% in at least one of the last 5 years (FY23: -13%), so margins and returns are scored on their medians across those years, not on the latest year.
Educational research, not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Scores are mechanical and reproducible from public filings; the notes are the author's judgment. Author position in LNN: none. Sources: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts (filings to 2026-05-31), daily prices to 2026-10-21. Past performance does not predict future returns.