Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP) vs Stepan Company (SCL)

Koppers Holdings Inc. and Stepan Company are both Specialty Chemicals companies. Stepan Company is the larger, with a market value of $1.5B against $749.7M — 2.1× the size. Koppers Holdings Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; Stepan Company trades at 352×. Stepan Company grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 10.0% against −0.85%. Stepan Company has the higher net margin (0.17% vs −5.03%) and the higher return on invested capital (0.86% vs −3.19%). Both pay a dividend; Stepan Company yields more (2.36% vs 1.17%). Across the 22 metrics below, Stepan Company leads on 12 and Koppers Holdings Inc. on 10.

Valuation

Metric KOP SCL Specialty Chemicals median
P/E n/m 351.74 26.45
P/S 0.30 0.60 1.64
P/B 1.41 1.26 1.84
Price to free cash flow 4.63 44.48 21.25
EV/EBITDA 5.79 13.60 12.93
EV/Sales 0.74 0.82 1.90
Earnings yield (16.82%) 0.28% 2.47%
Free cash flow yield 21.60% 2.25% 2.20%

Profitability

Metric KOP SCL Specialty Chemicals median
Gross margin 21.27% 11.99% 27.84%
Operating margin (3.34%) 0.95% 5.64%
Net margin (5.03%) 0.17% 4.26%
Free cash flow margin 9.02% 1.23% 4.75%
Return on equity (20.24%) 0.35% 3.73%
Return on assets (5.32%) 0.18% 1.16%
Return on invested capital (3.19%) 0.86% 3.21%

Growth

Metric KOP SCL Specialty Chemicals median
Revenue growth (TTM) (0.85%) 10.02% 7.03%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 11.38% (6.82%) (8.48%)
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 2.40% 4.52% 6.27%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (14.42%) (18.04%) 0.00%

Health

Metric KOP SCL Specialty Chemicals median
Debt to equity 2.21 0.52 0.59
Current ratio 2.37 1.32 2.16
Net debt to EBITDA 3.38 2.41 2.03

Dividend

Metric KOP SCL Specialty Chemicals median
Dividend yield 1.17% 2.36% 1.84%
Payout ratio — 8.32 0.40

Size

Metric KOP SCL Specialty Chemicals median
Market cap 749.66m 1.54b 1.95b

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