SMG: Hagedorn Passing the Baton

Research evidence excerpt

SMG: Hagedorn Passing the Baton

Equity Research

Company Update — June 29, 2026

Household & Personal Care

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

Hagedorn Passing the Baton Overweight

Price Target: $72.00

Our Call Ticker SMG

Upside/(Downside) to Target 6.4%

SMG's long-time CEO Hagedorn is passing the baton to Nate Baxter who is well known

to the Street at this point, the first time in a generation that SMG will be under new Price (06/29/2026) $67.69

leadership. A bit of freshness may not be a bad thing, in our view. 52 Week Range $52.00 - 72.35

Market Cap (MM) $4,000

New CEO + Chairman. SMG announced the appointment of Nate Baxter as the Enterprise Value (MM) $6,531

company's new President and CEO effective immediately. This transition aligns with the Average Daily Value (MM) $67

succession plan established when Baxter joined the company in 2023. Baxter has also Dividend Yield 3.9%

joined the Board. He succeeds Jim Hagedorn, who has served as CEO since 2001 and

Chairman since 2003. Pete Shumlin, who has been on the Board since 2017 and served as $ (Sep) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 FY

lead independent director since 2023, has been elected the new Chairman. EPS

2026E (0.77) A 4.53 A 2.40 E (1.88) E 4.31 E

Baxter background. Baxter has served as President/COO of SMG since 2024. He joined 2027E (0.94) E 4.67 E 2.63 E (1.88) E 4.48 E

the company in April 2023 as EVP Technology and Operations, before being named COO

Source: Company Data, Wells Fargo Securities estimates, and Factset.

in September 2023. Baxter is the primary driver of the company's 2.0 growth strategy NA = Not Available, NC = No Change, NE = No Estimate

(goal = less seasonality, more consistent compounding model) and has a background

across sales, supply chain, marketing, R&D, and technology. Before SMG, he was President Chris Carey