What's Going On With Lamb Weston Stock Friday?

Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) shares are trading higher on Friday following a report indicating that activist investor Jana Partners has built a 5% stake in the company.

What To Know: According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Jana Partners plans to encourage Lamb Weston to consider selling the company. In addition, Jana Partners wishes to improve the company’s operational and capital-allocation strategy.

The activist investor may nominate directors to Lamb Weston’s board. Notably, Jana Partners has joined forces with Continental Grain, an agricultural investment firm, for this investment.

The investment from Jana Partners comes during a challenging time for Lamb Weston. The company’s stock is down approximately 34% so far this year. Although the company beat analysts estimate for EPS and revenue for 2025 first-quarter, it missed those estimates for the 2024 third-quarter and fourth quarter.

Lamb Weston told WSJ that visits to its restaurants and demand for potatoes have fallen. Lamb Weston’s primary product is french fries. The company also said, “[it] encountered its own product quality issues and overestimated the need for capacity at its facilities.”

How To Buy Lamb Weston Shares

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Lamb Weston Hldgs – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy ‘fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to ‘go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

LW Price Action: At the time of publication, Lamb Weston stock is moving 8.73% higher at $77.20 per data from Benzinga Pro.

Image: Courtesy of Lamb Weston, Inc.