Non-Energy Materials

Specialty and Performance Chemicals

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

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today44th percentile

Dearer than in 90% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 29th to 44th 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 dear against its own past, and returns on assets are in their usual range. Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 89% of quarters), so the cash doesn't support the premium. 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 55th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 65th and a low of the 45th 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 fall: from the 44th percentile today (cheaper than 56% of investable US stocks) to around the 38th (cheaper than 62% of investable US stocks), 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 40th (cheaper than 60% of investable US stocks).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	55th	65th (median)	45th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	44th	38th	40th

Specialty and Performance 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 (71 quarters) and of their low (18). 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 MultipleNear its dearestPercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 90% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldLower than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 89% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 66% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldHigher than usualPercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 72% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrUsual rangePercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Lower than in 68% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityLeast debt on recordPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. Less indebted than in 93% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeLarger than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 71% of quarters since 1999.

Specialty and Performance 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%Commodity Chemicals dearer than 54%Containers and Packaging dearer than 55%Other Mining dearer than 58%Metal Products dearer than 69%Other Materials dearer than 73%

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.