Assay
Financial-condition grades for SEC filers
Company Report · as of Oct 9, 2026
|
| Stepan Co.SCL · chemicals | |
|---|---|
| Grade |  Eweakest fifth of 331 graded peers; percentile 85.8, sampling error 2.7 points; lower is stronger |
| Rank | 277 of 331 |
| Profitability | C/Dpercentile 62.5 |
| Solvency | Dpercentile 74.0 |
| Growth and financing | C/Dpercentile 59.7 |
| Reliability | 0.91 AUCfailure model, filers with $591M to $2.67B assets; 95% interval 0.88 to 0.94; 160 events, 2020 to 2025 |
| Peer failure rate | 1.01% a yearItem 1.03 bankruptcies, same asset band, 2012 to 2025 |
| Size band | $591M to $2.67B assetstotal assets $2.4B[1] |
| Standard universe | insiderevenue above $1M and assets above $10M[1-2] |
| Warnings | none activenot computable: distress |
| Inputs computable | 10 of 14 |
| Graded from | filings received through Feb 26, 2026225 days before the rescan; every figure keyed to the SEC receipt date |
| Last close | $60.952026-10-08; market equity $1.4B; iex feed |
| Price used in grade | None |
| Share price, twelve months to the rescansplit-adjusted close; a lollipop at every rescan carries the letter held then; baseline ticks are SEC receipt dates of the inputs; ranges and dragging scroll the full history | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Percentile at every rescan on file, Jan 21, 2012 to Oct 9, 2026; stronger toward the top. Hover for the date. Open this report as it stood on | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Each date opens the report as it stood on that rescan. |
Business, in the company's words. Opening of Item 1 of the 10-K received Feb 26, 2026; the document on sec.gov.
Stepan Company, which was incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware on February 19, 1959, and its subsidiaries produce specialty and intermediate chemicals, which are sold to other manufacturers and used in a variety of end products. The Company has three reportable segments: Surfactants, Polymers and Specialty Products. Surfactants are chemical agents that affect the interaction between two surfaces; they can provide actions such as detergency (i.e., the ability of water to remove soil from another surface), wetting and foaming, dispersing, emulsification (aiding two dissimilar liquids to mix), demulsification, viscosity modifications and biocidal disinfectants.
The Fourteen Inputs [top]
Lower percentile is stronger. Source numbers open the SEC filing; a range that spans filings opens the sources table.
| Input | Percentile, 0 to 100 | Value | Source | Peer median | Percentile | Peers | Period end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Profitability, sleeve percentile 62.5 | |||||||
| Gross profitability | 11.4% | [1,3] | 21.3% | 79.1 | 359 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Return on invested capital | 3.6% | [4-12] | 9.5% | 76.4 | 124 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Accruals ratio | (4.3%) | [1,13-15] | (4.2%) | 48.9 | 400 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Gross margin stability, five years | 2.1 pts | [2-3,16-23] | 2.2 pts | 45.7 | 301 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Solvency, sleeve percentile 74.0 | |||||||
| Twelve-month failure probability | not computable | 0.05% | |||||
| liabilities and a nearby cover-page share count are required at 2026-06-30 | |||||||
| Altman Z double-prime | not computable | 3.41 | |||||
| one or more required annual facts are missing | |||||||
| Net debt to EBITDA | 2.41x | [4,7,9,24] | 1.88x | 67.1 | 150 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Interest coverage | not computable | 4.16x | |||||
| latest aligned inputs end 2014-12-31; latest annual assets end 2025-12-31 | |||||||
| Current ratio | 1.29x | [25-26] | 2.20x | 80.8 | 423 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Growth and financing, sleeve percentile 59.7 | |||||||
| Revenue growth, three-year compound | (5.6%) | [2,17,19,21] | 1.2% | 79.1 | 350 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Free cash flow growth, three-year compound | not computable | 12.6% | |||||
| current FCF must be positive and base FCF must exceed $100,000 | |||||||
| Reinvestment rate | 77.3% | [4-6,24-29] | 24.3% | 21.3 | 170 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Asset growth, three years | (1.0%) | [1,15,30-31] | 2.9% | 69.0 | 369 | 2025-12-31 | |
| Net share issuance, one year | 0.6% | [32-33] | 0.0% | 69.4 | 321 | 2026-01-31 | |
Gross profitability. Revenue less cost of goods sold, over total assets.
Accruals ratio. Net income less operating cash flow, over average assets; lower is stronger.
Gross margin stability, five years. Standard deviation of gross margin; lower is stronger.
Twelve-month failure probability. CHS model; lower is stronger.
Net debt to EBITDA. Lower is stronger.
Net share issuance, one year. Split-adjusted; lower is stronger.
Sleeves are equal-weighted; within a sleeve each computable input carries equal weight. Composite 0.350; sampling error 2.7 percentile points on 331 peers.
Among 331 Peers [top]
Composite score of every graded peer, smoothed. Vertical rules are the letter band edges at the 20th, 40th, 60th and 80th percentiles. Small dots are the six largest peers by market equity.
| Rank | Company | Percentile | Letter | Warnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 272 | Sifco Industries Inc. (SIF) Sifco Industries Inc. (SIF) Eweakest fifth; percentile 84.6 NYSE · Aircraft Engines & Engine Parts market equity $140.8M; last close $22.95 Warnings: fortress balance sheet; 8 of 14 inputs | 84.6 | E | fortress balance sheet |
| 273 | Kronos Worldwide Inc. (KRO) Kronos Worldwide Inc. (KRO) Eweakest fifth; percentile 84.8 NYSE · Industrial Inorganic Chemicals market equity $900.1M; last close $7.84 No active warnings; 8 of 14 inputs | 84.8 | E | |
| 274 | Clearwater Paper Corp. (CLW) Clearwater Paper Corp. (CLW) Eweakest fifth; percentile 85.0 NYSE · Paperboard Mills market equity $314.6M; last close $19.42 No active warnings; 10 of 14 inputs | 85.0 | E | |
| 275 | Avient Corp. (AVNT) Avient Corp. (AVNT) Eweakest fifth; percentile 85.2 NYSE · Plastic Materials, Synth Resins & Nonvulcan Elastomers market equity $3.8B; last close $40.99 No active warnings; 9 of 14 inputs | 85.2 | E | |
| 276 | MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. (MCFT) MasterCraft Boat Holdings, Inc. (MCFT) Eweakest fifth; percentile 85.4 Nasdaq · Ship & Boat Building & Repairing market equity $474.6M; last close $19.52 Warnings: dilution; 11 of 14 inputs | 85.4 | E | dilution |
| 277 | Stepan Co. (SCL) Stepan Co. (SCL) Eweakest fifth; percentile 85.8 NYSE · Soap, Detergents, Cleang Preparations, Perfumes, Cosmetics market equity $1.4B; last close $60.95 No active warnings; 10 of 14 inputs | 85.8 | E | |
| 278 | Smurfit Westrock plc (SW) Smurfit Westrock plc (SW) Eweakest fifth; percentile 85.8 NYSE · Paperboard Containers & Boxes market equity $21.7B; last close $41.45 No active warnings; 8 of 14 inputs | 85.8 | E | |
| 279 | FMC Corp. (FMC) FMC Corp. (FMC) Eweakest fifth; percentile 86.1 NYSE · Chemicals & Allied Products market equity $1.1B; last close $8.91 No active warnings; 7 of 14 inputs | 86.1 | E | |
| 280 | Worthington Enterprises, Inc. (WOR) Worthington Enterprises, Inc. (WOR) Eweakest fifth; percentile 86.2 NYSE · Steel Works, Blast Furnaces & Rolling & Finishing Mills market equity $3.0B; last close $61.13 No active warnings; 13 of 14 inputs | 86.2 | E | |
| 281 | IT Tech Packaging, Inc. (ITP) IT Tech Packaging, Inc. (ITP) Eweakest fifth; percentile 86.6 NYSE · Converted Paper & Paperboard Prods (No Contaners/Boxes) market equity $2.5M; last close $0.15 Warnings: late filer, fortress balance sheet; 9 of 14 inputs | 86.6 | E | late filer, fortress balance sheet |
| 282 | cbdMD, Inc. (YCBD) cbdMD, Inc. (YCBD) Eweakest fifth; percentile 86.7 NYSE · Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations market equity $4.4M; last close $0.39 No active warnings; 7 of 14 inputs | 86.7 | E |
| Peer policy | Letter | Percentile | Peers |
|---|---|---|---|
| all graded filers, equal sleeves | D/E | 79.7 | 2204 |
| sector peers, equal sleeves (the grade) | E | 85.8 | 331 |
| same exchange, equal sleeves | E | 82.4 | 984 |
| sector peers, equal inputs | D/E | 82.4 | 331 |
Each letter is one fifth of the 331 graded peers, about 66 companies. A boundary letter (A/B, B/C, C/D, D/E) marks a percentile within one sampling error of a band edge.
What the Price Implies [top]
Market measures at the 2026-10-08 close. None enters the grade. Percentile among graded peers with the same measure.
| Measure | Value | Peer median | Percentile | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twelve-month price change, skipping the latest month | 33.6% | 13.8% | 68 | hotter than 68 of 100 peers |
| Distance from 52-week high | (9.2%) | (24.2%) | 87 | closer to its high than 87 of 100 peers |
| EBIT to enterprise value | 4.1% | 3.9% | 52 | pricier than 48 of 100 peers |
| Free cash flow yield | 1.8% | 3.2% | 35 | pricier than 65 of 100 peers |
| Book value to price | 0.87 | 0.39 | 83 | pricier than 17 of 100 peers |
| Sales to price | 1.68 | 0.57 | 82 | pricier than 18 of 100 peers |
| Composite equity issuance, five years | (9.1%) | (9.9%) | 53 | more equity-funded than 53 of 100 peers |
| Relative strength against the sector, log excess return | 0.12 | (0.02) | 65 | ahead of 65 of 100 peers |
Inputs: market equity $1.4B; EBIT $78.5M; free cash flow $25.4M; book equity $1.2B; sales $2.3B; debt $647.4M; cash $113.7M[34].
Diagnostics [top]
Diagnostics do not feed the grade.
| Piotroski F-score: 5 of 9, period end 2025-12-31 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Return on assets above zero | 2.0% | ✓ pass[13,15] |
| Operating cash flow above zero | $147.9M | ✓ pass[14] |
| Return on assets improved | (0.1 pts) | ✗ fail[13,15,30,35] |
| Operating cash flow exceeds net income | $101.0M | ✓ pass[13-14] |
| Long-term leverage fell | 0.4 pts | ✗ fail[1,15,30,36-37] |
| Current ratio improved | 7.7 pts | ✓ pass[25-26,28-29] |
| No new shares issued | 0.6% | ✗ fail[32-33] |
| Gross margin improved | (0.9 pts) | ✗ fail[2-3,16-17] |
| Asset turnover improved | 8.9 pts | ✓ pass[2,15,17,30] |
| Cash, filings, liquidity | |
|---|---|
| Cash and equivalents | $113.7M[38] |
| Operating cash flow, four quarters | $155.0M[14,38-42] |
| Months of runway | not finite |
| trailing operating cash flow is nonnegative, so runway is not finite | |
| Late filings, two years | 0 |
| NT 10-K or NT 10-Q | |
| Days since last periodic filing | 65 |
| 10-Q received Aug 5, 2026 | |
| Median daily dollar volume | $8.0M |
| 63 sessions | |
| Days since newest grade input | 225 |
Downloads [top]
|
Sources [top]
Every citation on this page. Filing opens the SEC index page for that submission; viewer opens the SEC interactive data for the same filing; series opens the SEC XBRL API record for that tag and company.
| # | Concept | XBRL tag | Value | Period end | Received | Form | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | assets | us-gaap:Assets | $2.4B | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 2 | revenue | us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax | $2.3B | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 3 | gross profit | us-gaap:GrossProfit | $269.9M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 4 | operating income | us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss | $78.5M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 5 | pretax income | us-gaap:IncomeLossFromContinuingOperationsBeforeIncomeTaxesExtraordinaryItemsNoncontrollingInterest | $59.9M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 6 | income tax | us-gaap:IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit | $13.0M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 7 | total debt | us-gaap:LongTermDebt | $626.7M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 8 | book equity | us-gaap:StockholdersEquity | $1.2B | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 9 | cash | us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue | $132.7M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 10 | total debt | us-gaap:LongTermDebt | $625.4M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 11 | book equity | us-gaap:StockholdersEquity | $1.2B | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 12 | cash | us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue | $99.7M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 13 | net income | us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss | $46.9M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 14 | operating cash flow | us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | $147.9M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 15 | assets | us-gaap:Assets | $2.3B | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 16 | gross profit | us-gaap:GrossProfit | $272.2M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 17 | revenue | us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax | $2.2B | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 18 | gross profit | us-gaap:GrossProfit | $277.6M | 2023-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 19 | revenue | us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax | $2.3B | 2023-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 20 | gross profit | us-gaap:GrossProfit | $427.1M | 2022-12-31 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 21 | revenue | us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax | $2.8B | 2022-12-31 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 22 | gross profit | us-gaap:GrossProfit | $395.8M | 2021-12-31 | 2024-02-29 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 23 | revenue | us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax | $2.3B | 2021-12-31 | 2024-02-29 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 24 | depreciation amortization | us-gaap:DepreciationDepletionAndAmortization | $126.0M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 25 | current assets | us-gaap:AssetsCurrent | $859.0M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 26 | current liabilities | us-gaap:LiabilitiesCurrent | $666.5M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 27 | capital expenditure | us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment | $122.5M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 28 | current assets | us-gaap:AssetsCurrent | $810.4M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 29 | current liabilities | us-gaap:LiabilitiesCurrent | $669.0M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 30 | assets | us-gaap:Assets | $2.4B | 2023-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 31 | assets | us-gaap:Assets | $2.4B | 2022-12-31 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 32 | shares outstanding | dei:EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding | 22,635,277 | 2026-01-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 33 | shares outstanding | dei:EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding | 22,504,117 | 2025-01-31 | 2025-02-27 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 34 | shares outstanding | dei:EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding | 22,732,540 | 2026-08-03 | 2026-08-05 | 10-Q | filing · viewer · series |
| 35 | net income | us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss | $50.4M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 36 | long term debt | us-gaap:LongTermDebtNoncurrent | $341.0M | 2025-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 37 | long term debt | us-gaap:LongTermDebtNoncurrent | $332.6M | 2024-12-31 | 2026-02-26 | 10-K | filing · viewer · series |
| 38 | cash | us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue | $113.7M | 2026-06-30 | 2026-08-05 | 10-Q | filing · viewer · series |
| 39 | operating cash flow | us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | $25.3M | 2026-06-30 | 2026-08-05 | 10-Q | filing · viewer · series |
| 40 | operating cash flow | us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | $16.9M | 2026-03-31 | 2026-05-06 | 10-Q | filing · viewer · series |
| 41 | operating cash flow | us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | $87.9M | 2025-09-30 | 2025-11-05 | 10-Q | filing · viewer · series |
| 42 | operating cash flow | us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | $18.1M | 2025-06-30 | 2026-08-05 | 10-Q | filing · viewer · series |
Limitations [top]
Grade boundary. Percentile 85.8 is 5.8 points from the nearest band edge; sampling error is 2.7 points.
Peer group. Sector assignment from four-digit SIC codes, hand-tuned and published. The grade under three alternative peer policies is tabled above.
Size. Within a sector the letter tracks size. Among graded filers in the smallest asset band, 72% grade E and 0% grade A; in the largest, 13% grade E and 21% grade A. Universe as of Oct 9, 2026.
Failure model. filings 2012-01-01 to 2019-12-31 fit, filings 2020-01-01 to 2025-12-31 test; status post hoc pending confirmation. pre-registered on 2026 filings once their 12-month outcome windows close; supported if the paired per-quintile gain over the pooled model has a lower bound above 0.05.
Input validity. Revenue or total assets at or below $100,000 sets the degenerate-inputs flag. An input whose denominator is at or below $100,000 is left not computable rather than ranked.
Returns. No input on this page has a post-2015 confidence interval on returns that excludes zero. The grade ranks reported financial condition and is not a return forecast.
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