Stocks · Basic Materials · Chemicals - Specialty
Stepan Co SCL
$63.00 +2.39% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.43B
Strong trend
Next earnings report: Nov 4, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $-0.12, down 104.7% year over year.
- Net debt is 3.7× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 94 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Basic Materials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 43%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 13%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 10%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 30%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 44%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 45%
- Gross marginBottom 21%
- Operating marginBottom 32%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 36%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 22%
- Interest coverBottom 48%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 37%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 26%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 45%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 18%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 32%
- 6-month returnTop 15%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 26%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 4%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 4%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 36%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 32%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 6%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 47%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 28%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 41%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 49%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 22%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 5.5% | 7.6% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -125.2% | -104.7% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 12.4% | 11.8% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 3.4% | 3.3% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 3.3% | -1.4% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 7.6% | 5.5% | ↑ | Top 43% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -104.7% | -125.2% | ↑ | Bottom 13% |
| Gross margin | 11.8% | 12.4% | ↓ | Bottom 21% |
| Operating margin | 3.3% | 3.4% | ↓ | Bottom 32% |
| Net margin | -0.1% | 2.6% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -1.4% | 3.3% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 4.1% | — | Bottom 45% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -5.6% | — | Bottom 30% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -7.3%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +3.7 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.72×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 4.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 3.11%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.04%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.07%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +9.5%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $85.00
- Target vs current price
- +34.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 3
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 100%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | +93.4% | +14.0% | +10.4% | +6.9% | — |
| Apr 28, 2026 | +16.9% | -6.3% | -3.6% | +1.0% | +9.4% |
| Feb 23, 2026 | -105.7% | -20.4% | -24.3% | -33.3% | -25.9% |
| Oct 29, 2025 | +33.3% | -0.4% | -4.6% | +2.5% | +25.6% |
| Jul 30, 2025 | -43.5% | -9.7% | -8.2% | -8.1% | -17.7% |
| Apr 29, 2025 | +64.7% | +7.1% | +11.2% | +17.2% | +17.6% |
| Feb 19, 2025 | -73.3% | +0.1% | +1.4% | -6.0% | -12.6% |
| Oct 30, 2024 | +58.5% | +2.0% | +1.9% | +4.2% | -11.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | $1.18 | $0.61 | +93.4% | $684.1M |
| Apr 28, 2026 | $0.45 | $0.39 | +16.9% | $604.5M |
| Feb 23, 2026 | -$0.02 | $0.35 | -105.7% | $553.9M |
| Oct 29, 2025 | $0.48 | $0.36 | +33.3% | $590.3M |
| Jul 30, 2025 | $0.52 | $0.92 | -43.5% | $594.7M |
| Apr 29, 2025 | $0.84 | $0.51 | +64.7% | $593.3M |
| Feb 19, 2025 | $0.12 | $0.45 | -73.3% | $525.6M |
| Oct 30, 2024 | $1.03 | $0.65 | +58.5% | $546.8M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (forward) | 23.4× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.7× | — | — | Top 45% |
| EV / Sales | 0.83× | — | — | Top 18% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -2.37% | — | — | Bottom 26% |
| Earnings yield | -0.19% | — | — | Bottom 37% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 15.4× – 52.6× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +32.1%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -104.7%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -10.0%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 1
- Days above the 200-day average
- 94
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.7%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.3%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +0.1%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +13.7%
- RSI (14)
- 51.7
- Relative volume
- 0.85×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 34.1%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 82th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.99
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.41
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -6.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -55.8%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2021 | Nov 4, 2025 | -69.3% | 1130 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jan 7, 2021 | Jan 29, 2021 | -14.0% | 15 days | 58 days (Apr 23, 2021) |
| Nov 16, 2020 | Dec 3, 2020 | -12.5% | 12 days | 23 days (Jan 7, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.43B
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$0.12
- Revenue (TTM)
- $2.43B
- Dividend yield
- 2.51%
- 52-week range
- $41.82 – $68.00
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.35B | $2.77B | $2.33B | $2.18B | $2.33B |
| Gross profit | $395.8M | $427.1M | $277.6M | $272.2M | $269.9M |
| Operating income | $170.8M | $207.3M | $58.6M | $70.5M | $69.4M |
| Net income | $137.8M | $147.2M | $40.2M | $50.4M | $46.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $5.92 | $6.38 | $1.75 | $2.20 | $2.05 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $546.8M | $525.6M | $593.3M | $594.7M | $590.3M | $553.9M | $604.5M | $684.1M |
| Net income | $23.6M | $3.4M | $19.7M | $11.3M | $10.8M | $5.0M | -$41.4M | $22.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.03 | $0.15 | $0.86 | $0.50 | $0.47 | $0.22 | -$1.81 | $1.00 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $72.1M | $160.8M | $174.9M | $162.1M | $147.9M |
| Capital expenditure | -$194.5M | -$301.6M | -$260.3M | -$122.8M | -$122.5M |
| Free cash flow | -$122.3M | -$140.8M | -$85.5M | $39.3M | $25.4M |
| Dividends paid | -$28.1M | -$30.6M | -$32.9M | -$34.0M | -$35.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$15.6M | -$24.2M | $2.8M | $1.1M | $104,000 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $113.7M
- Total assets
- $2.39B
- Total liabilities
- $1.18B
- Total debt
- $707.3M
- Net debt
- $593.6M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.21B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $0.40 | Sep 15, 2026 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | $0.40 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | $0.40 | Mar 13, 2026 |
| Nov 28, 2025 | $0.40 | Dec 15, 2025 |
| Aug 29, 2025 | $0.39 | Sep 15, 2025 |
| May 30, 2025 | $0.39 | Jun 13, 2025 |
| Mar 3, 2025 | $0.39 | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Nov 29, 2024 | $0.39 | Dec 13, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 666,552
- Days to cover
- 4.81
- Change vs previous report
- -3.4%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Dec 17, 2012
- 2-for-1
- Dec 16, 1994
- 2-for-1
- Jan 3, 1989
- 2-for-1
- Jan 4, 1982
- 2-for-1
- Oct 2, 1972
- 2-for-1