Quaker Chemical vs Sensient Technologies
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The short version
- Quaker Chemical is the larger business, with $1.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.6B for Sensient Technologies.
- Sensient Technologies grew revenue faster (3.5%, against 2.7%).
- Sensient Technologies kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (12.9% operating margin, against 2.8%).
- Quaker Chemical turned more of its sales into free cash flow (4.3% FCF margin, against 2.4%).
- Sensient Technologies earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (8.9%, against 1.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Sensient Technologies’s earnings: a P/E of 35.8x against 27.8x for Quaker Chemical.
| Latest fiscal year | KWR · FY25 | SXT · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.7B | $5.7B |
| Revenue | $1.9B | $1.6B |
| Free cash flow | $80.6M | $38.4M |
| Net income | −$2.5M | $135M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.7% | 3.5% |
| 5-year growth | 5.9% | 3.9% |
| Share count change | −2.2% | 0.5% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 36.0% | 33.5% |
| Operating margin | 2.8% | 12.9% |
| Net margin | −0.1% | 8.3% |
| FCF margin | 4.3% | 2.4% |
| Return on capital | 1.3% | 8.9% |
| Return on equity | −0.2% | 11.9% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $726M | $673M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 6.1x | 2.5x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $75.9M | $69.6M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 27.8x | 35.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
KWR $747M
SXT $1.4B
FY17
KWR $820M
SXT $1.4B
FY18
KWR $868M
SXT $1.4B
FY19
KWR $1.1B
SXT $1.3B
FY20
KWR $1.4B
SXT $1.3B
FY21
KWR $1.8B
SXT $1.4B
FY22
KWR $1.9B
SXT $1.4B
FY23
KWR $2.0B
SXT $1.5B
FY24
KWR $1.8B
SXT $1.6B
FY25
KWR $1.9B
SXT $1.6B
KWR
SXT
Operating margin
FY16
KWR 11.4%
SXT 13.1%
FY17
KWR 7.7%
SXT 12.0%
FY18
KWR 10.1%
SXT 14.7%
FY19
KWR 4.1%
SXT 9.2%
FY20
KWR 4.2%
SXT 11.5%
FY21
KWR 8.5%
SXT 12.3%
FY22
KWR 2.7%
SXT 13.7%
FY23
KWR 11.0%
SXT 10.6%
FY24
KWR 10.6%
SXT 12.3%
FY25
KWR 2.8%
SXT 12.9%
KWR
SXT
Free cash flow
FY16
KWR $63.8M
SXT $102M
FY17
KWR $53.9M
SXT −$20.0M
FY18
KWR $65.9M
SXT $32.8M
FY19
KWR $66.8M
SXT $138M
FY20
KWR $160M
SXT $167M
FY21
KWR $27.5M
SXT $84.4M
FY22
KWR $13.3M
SXT −$67.3M
FY23
KWR $240M
SXT $81.8M
FY24
KWR $163M
SXT $97.9M
FY25
KWR $80.6M
SXT $38.4M
KWR
SXT
Return on capital
FY16
KWR 16.0%
SXT 9.5%
FY17
KWR 8.1%
SXT 7.1%
FY18
KWR 16.4%
SXT 11.8%
FY19
KWR 3.6%
SXT 6.5%
FY20
KWR 2.9%
SXT 8.3%
FY21
KWR 5.5%
SXT 8.9%
FY22
KWR 1.3%
SXT 10.0%
FY23
KWR 6.8%
SXT 6.8%
FY24
KWR 6.9%
SXT 8.8%
FY25
KWR 1.3%
SXT 8.9%
KWR
SXT
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.