Stepan Company
SCL Basic Materials Specialty Chemicals
Stepan Company’s revenue for fiscal 2025 (year ended December 2025) was $2.3 billion, up 6.96% from fiscal 2024. In the quarter to June 2026, revenue grew 15.0%, EPS grew 100.0%, free cash flow fell 4.42% and total debt fell 1.62%, each against the same quarter a year earlier. Dividend growth for ten consecutive years.
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Stepan Company (SCL) Altman Z-score
Stepan Company's Altman Z-score for fiscal 2025 is 2.54, in the grey zone (1.81–2.99).
Altman Z-score, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Altman Z-score | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 2.54 | (0.13) |
| FY2024 | 2.68 | (0.39) |
| FY2023 | 3.06 | (0.41) |
| FY2022 | 3.47 | (0.67) |
| FY2021 | 4.14 | (0.55) |
| FY2020 | 4.69 | 0.01 |
| FY2019 | 4.69 | 0.43 |
| FY2018 | 4.25 | 0.04 |
| FY2017 | 4.21 | 0.03 |
| FY2016 | 4.18 | 0.40 |
How fiscal 2025’s score is made up
| Component | This year | Year before | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital / total assets | 0.08 | — | 0.10 | |
| Retained earnings / total assets | 0.55 | — | 0.76 | |
| EBIT / total assets | 0.03 | — | 0.11 | |
| Market value of equity / total liabilities | 0.97 | — | 0.58 | |
| Sales / total assets | 0.99 | — | 0.99 | |
| Altman Z-score | Grey zone | 2.54 | ||
| Z″ Variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies (drops the sales/assets term, uses book equity) | Safe zone | 3.71 | ||
Z and Z″ put Stepan Company in different zones: grey zone by Z, safe zone by Z″.
How the Altman Z-score works
Z = 1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets (Altman, 1968). The market value of equity is the close on the last trading day of the fiscal year times weighted basic shares.
Z″ = 6.56 × working capital ÷ total assets + 3.26 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 6.72 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 1.05 × book equity ÷ total liabilities (Altman, Hartzell and Peck, 1995), the variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies.
| Zone | Z | Z″ |
|---|---|---|
| Safe zone | above 2.99 | above 2.60 |
| Grey zone | 1.81–2.99 | 1.10–2.60 |
| Distress zone | below 1.81 | below 1.10 |
Not worked out for banks, insurers and REITs, whose balance sheets the model does not describe, nor when a figure is missing or there is no share price in the week to the fiscal year end.
Altman Z-score against peers
| Company | Altman Z-score |
|---|---|
| ODC Oil-Dri Corporation Of America compare | 9.4× |
| IOSP Innospec Inc. compare | 4.8× |
| SCL Stepan Company | 2.5× |
| MTX Minerals Technologies Inc. compare | 2.5× |
| KOP Koppers Holdings Inc. compare | 2.2× |
| NGVT Ingevity Corporation compare | 1.8× |
| ECVT Ecovyst Inc. compare | 1.7× |
| KRO Kronos Worldwide Inc compare | 1.4× |
| CC The Chemours Company compare | 1.4× |
What Altman Z-score is
The Altman Z-Score weighs working capital, retained earnings, operating profit, market value and sales against assets and debts to gauge the risk of distress.
1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets