Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR)

Darling Ingredients Inc. is a global developer and producer of sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients. The company collects and transforms animal by-product streams, recycled oils, and residual bakery products into usable ingredients such as collagen, edible fats, feed-grade fats, animal proteins and meals, plasma, pet food ingredients, organic fertilizers, yellow grease, fuel feedstocks, agriculture-based biofuels, natural casings, and hides. It also provides environmental services like grease trap collection and disposal to food service establishments.

Darling Ingredients Inc. generates revenue through the production and sale of ingredients and specialty solutions across multiple industries. Its primary products include protein meals, fats, collagen, natural casings, biofuels, and organic fertilizers. These are sold to manufacturers of animal feed, pet food, agriculture-based biofuels such as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, fertilizer producers, and industrial users in sectors like oleo-chemicals, soaps, and leather goods.

The company operates through the following segments: Feed Ingredients, Food Ingredients and Fuel Ingredients.

• Feed Ingredients: This segment includes the collection and processing of beef, poultry, and pork by-products into non-food grade oils and protein meals, bakery residuals into Cookie Meal®, used cooking oil into non-food grade fats, porcine and bovine blood into blood plasma powder and hemoglobin, slaughtered animal portions into pet food products, cattle hides and hog skins into leather industry inputs, organic fertilizers from protein by-products, black soldier fly larvae into specialty proteins and fats, and grease trap services. Key brands under this segment include Cookie Meal®, Nature Safe®, and EnviroFlight®. The segment serves customers in animal feed, pet food, aquaculture, and industrial applications.

• Food Ingredients: This segment involves processing beef and pork bone chips, hides, skins, and fish into collagen, intestinal tracts into natural casings, porcine mucosa into crude heparin, animal fat into food-grade fat, and bones into bone chips and ash. Collagen is marketed under the Rousselot and Gelnex names, with specialty brands such as Peptan, Peptinex, and Nextida™. Natural casings are sold under the CTH name. Additional specialty products include bone, heparin, and edible fat processed under the Sonac name for food, feed, and pharmaceutical uses.

• Fuel Ingredients: This segment centers on the company’s equity investment in Diamond Green Diesel Holdings LLC, a joint venture with Valero Energy Corporation that converts feedstocks into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. It also includes biogas production from organic sludge and food waste under the Ecoson name, conversion of fallen stock and animal by-products into low-grade energy under the Rendac name, and manure processing into natural bio-phosphate in Europe. The Diamond Green Diesel® brand markets renewable fuels to blenders, distributors, and obligated parties in low-carbon fuel markets.

Darling Ingredients Inc. holds a leading position in the global sustainable ingredients industry, particularly in rendering, collagen, and renewable diesel production. It competes with companies such as Cargill, Tyson Foods, and JBS in various segments, but differentiates itself through its integrated model of converting low-value by-products into high-value ingredients across food, feed, fuel, and fertilizer markets. Its scale, global footprint, and proprietary processing technologies provide competitive advantages in securing raw material supply and meeting customer demand for sustainable solutions.

The company serves a diverse customer base including producers of animal feed, pet food, agriculture-based biofuels, fertilizers, and industrial manufacturers. Specific customers include Valero Energy Corporation through the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture, as well as feed mills, pet food manufacturers, integrated poultry producers, dairy companies, golf courses, tanneries, and oleo-chemical producers. Its products are also used by pharmaceutical and nutritional supplement makers utilizing collagen brands like Peptan and Nextida™.