Is the business good?
How good a business is ESI?
Element Solutions Inc earns 6.3% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
6.3%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 2.7 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 13%
Operating margin · Specialty Chemicals median 9.1% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Share count, year on year
- +0.29%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
- R&D as % of revenue
- 2.6%
R&D as % of revenue
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 13% |
| FY2021 | 13% |
| FY2022 | 13% |
| FY2023 | 7.4% |
| FY2024 | 14% |
| FY2025 | 13% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 41%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 13%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 5.3%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 2.6%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $2.80B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $149M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 6.3%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.