Liberty One Cuts Its Lamb Weston Position in Half With $32 Million Sale

What happened

According to an SEC filing dated Feb. 13, 2026, Liberty One Investment Management, LLC reduced its position in Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW) by 544,473 shares during the fourth quarter of 2025. The estimated transaction value is approximately $32.04 million, calculated using the average closing price for the period. The fund reported holding 416,166 shares at quarter-end.

What else to know

This sale reduced Lamb Weston to 2.23% of the fund’s 13F reportable AUM.

• Top holdings after the filing:
  • Cardinal Health: $31.62 million (4.0% of AUM)
  • Johnson & Johnson: $29.79 million (3.8% of AUM)
  • Eli Lilly: $27.92 million (3.6% of AUM)
  • Alliant Energy: $24.97 million (3.2% of AUM)
  • Coca-Cola: $24.67 million (3.2% of AUM)

As of Feb. 13, 2026, Lamb Weston shares were priced at $49.82, down 12.4% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500 by 25 percentage points. The position was previously 3.1% of the fund's AUM as of the prior quarter.

Company overview

Metric	Value
Revenue (TTM)	$6.47 billion
Net income (TTM)	$392.30 million
Dividend yield	2.99%
Price (as of market close February 13, 2026)	$49.82

Company snapshot

Lamb Weston:

• Produces and markets value-added frozen potato products, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under owned, licensed, and private label brands.
• Generates revenue by manufacturing and distributing frozen foods to retail, foodservice, and commercial customers globally.
• Serves grocery and mass retailers, club and specialty stores, foodservice operators, educational institutions, and restaurants.

Lamb Weston Holdings is a leading global supplier of frozen potato products with a diversified customer base across retail and foodservice channels. The company leverages its scale, brand portfolio, and supply chain capabilities to maintain a strong presence in the packaged foods industry. Strategic focus on innovation and operational efficiency supports its competitive position in the consumer defensive sector.

What this transaction means for investors

Liberty One has held shares of the leading potato products producer, Lamb Weston, since 2021, but it has been an underwhelming investment. While frozen french fries and tater-tots are about as recession-proof as you can imagine, Lamb Weston is yet to fire on all cylinders following its 2016 spinoff, rising 6% annually over that time. That said, investors who hold Lamb Weston shouldn’t necessarily panic over Liberty One’s sale of the stock in Q4, as it trimmed 140 of its 157 positions.

From a stock perspective, Lamb Weston sits somewhere between a turnaround stock and a value stock. It trades at a reasonable EV-to-EBITDA ratio of 9 and a P/E ratio of just 11, but has net debt of $3.8 billion versus a market cap of $6.9 billion. While the company touts that it has returned over $2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases over the last decade, it has also paid roughly $1 billion in interest over the same period. This heavy debt load creates an overhang that hampers the company’s options (growth, M&A, further shareholder returns, etc.) looking ahead.

For uber-conservative investors, the valuation may be right for investors to buy Lamb Weston while its EV/EBITDA ratio trades near its lowest-ever levels. However, the company’s growth story (sales have dipped over the last two years) doesn’t really catch my attention enough to make me overlook its less-than-perfect financials. It is nowhere near danger, in my opinion, but I’d rather not have to wait for a turnaround from a stock with a relatively bland growth story. That said, I could see the investment case at today’s price for value investors and income-seeking investors.

Josh Kohn-Lindquist has positions in Coca-Cola. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.