Century Aluminum vs Element Solutions
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The short version
- Element Solutions is the larger business, with $2.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.5B for Century Aluminum.
- Century Aluminum grew revenue faster (13.9%, against 3.8%).
- Element Solutions kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (13.4% operating margin, against 6.3%).
- Element Solutions turned more of its sales into free cash flow (8.9% FCF margin, against 3.4%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Element Solutions’s earnings: a P/E of 39.1x against 5.4x for Century Aluminum.
| Latest fiscal year | CENX · FY25 | ESI · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.3B | $8.1B |
| Revenue | $2.5B | $2.6B |
| Free cash flow | $84.8M | $228M |
| Net income | $41.8M | $191M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 13.9% | 3.8% |
| 5-year growth | 9.5% | 6.6% |
| Share count change | −3.2% | −0.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 10.1% | 42.0% |
| Operating margin | 6.3% | 13.4% |
| Net margin | 1.7% | 7.5% |
| FCF margin | 3.4% | 8.9% |
| Return on capital | — | 6.5% |
| Return on equity | 5.6% | 7.6% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | — | $1.0B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | 2.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $103M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 5.4x | 39.1x |
| Piotroski F-score | — | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
CENX $1.3B
ESI $1.8B
FY17
CENX $1.6B
ESI $1.9B
FY18
CENX $1.9B
ESI $2.0B
FY19
CENX $1.8B
ESI $1.8B
FY20
CENX $1.6B
ESI $1.9B
FY21
CENX $2.2B
ESI $2.4B
FY22
CENX $2.8B
ESI $2.5B
FY23
CENX $2.2B
ESI $2.3B
FY24
CENX $2.2B
ESI $2.5B
FY25
CENX $2.5B
ESI $2.6B
CENX
ESI
Operating margin
FY16
CENX −17.3%
ESI 5.1%
FY17
CENX 6.1%
ESI 10.7%
FY18
CENX −3.1%
ESI 12.7%
FY19
CENX −3.9%
ESI 13.6%
FY20
CENX −5.0%
ESI 12.6%
FY21
CENX 3.0%
ESI 12.5%
FY22
CENX −5.4%
ESI 12.8%
FY23
CENX 1.3%
ESI 7.4%
FY24
CENX 4.9%
ESI 14.0%
FY25
CENX 6.3%
ESI 13.4%
CENX
ESI
Free cash flow
FY16
CENX $16.3M
ESI $152M
FY17
CENX $19.7M
ESI $151M
FY18
CENX −$152M
ESI −$29.2M
FY19
CENX −$41.9M
ESI $141M
FY20
CENX $29.5M
ESI $247M
FY21
CENX −$148M
ESI $280M
FY22
CENX −$60.4M
ESI $248M
FY23
CENX $10.6M
ESI $281M
FY24
CENX −$107M
ESI $294M
FY25
CENX $84.8M
ESI $228M
CENX
ESI
Return on capital
FY16
CENX −17.9%
ESI 1.0%
FY17
CENX 9.4%
ESI 2.0%
FY18
CENX −5.0%
ESI 2.5%
FY19
CENX −6.1%
ESI 2.6%
FY20
CENX −9.4%
ESI 6.2%
FY21
CENX 11.1%
ESI 6.3%
FY22
CENX −12.5%
ESI 5.5%
FY23
CENX 2.8%
ESI 3.9%
FY24
CENX —
ESI 7.4%
FY25
CENX —
ESI 6.5%
CENX
ESI
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.