Non-Energy Materials

Commodity Chemicals

15 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today39th percentile

Dearer than in 54% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 23rd to 52nd percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 38th. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is in its usual range on the multiple, and returns on assets are in their usual range. Free cash flow yield is in its usual range. A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Earning about normally

Return on assets ranks at the 46th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 60th and a low of the 32nd since 1999. That is close to its usual level, so today's multiple is about right on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely stay about where it is: from the 39th percentile today (cheaper than 61% of investable US stocks), around the 36th, judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level. If returns fell to their low, it would be around the 52nd (about the middle of the market).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	46th	60th (median)	32nd (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	39th	36th	52nd

Commodity Chemicals's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (62 quarters) and of their low (5). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleUsual rangePercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 54% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldUsual rangePercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 60% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldLower than usualDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 77% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldNear its lowestPercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 98% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrUsual rangePercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Higher than in 59% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityMore debt than usualPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 77% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeSmaller than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Smaller than in 79% of quarters since 1999.

Commodity Chemicals stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

Stock	Screen	Acquirer's Multiple	FCF yield	Shareholder yield

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Other Non-Energy Materials industries

Metal Ore Mining cheaper than 95%Construction Materials cheaper than 70%Containers and Packaging dearer than 55%Other Mining dearer than 58%Metal Products dearer than 69%Other Materials dearer than 73%Specialty and Performance Chemicals dearer than 90%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.