Is the business good?
How good a business is LYB?
LyondellBasell earns 3.9% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
3.9%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 5.1 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 3.1%
Operating margin · Specialty Chemicals median 9.1% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- R&D as % of revenue
- 0.44%
R&D as % of revenue
- Gross margin
- 13%
Gross margin
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 5.6% |
| FY2021 | 15% |
| FY2022 | 10% |
| FY2023 | 8.2% |
| FY2024 | 5.7% |
| FY2025 | −1.4% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 13%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 3.1%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- −1.1%
- Free cash flow margin
- 5.1%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 0.44%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $31.2B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $1.58B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- −$346M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 3.9%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Specialty Chemicals
Ranks #19 of 36 by Smart Score