-->

Stepan Company Stock Buy Hold or Sell Recommendation

SCL Stock  USD 49.83  0.03  0.06%   
Considering the 90-day investment horizon and your above-average risk tolerance, our recommendation regarding Stepan Company is 'Hold'. The recommendation algorithm takes into account all of Stepan's available fundamental, technical, and predictive indicators you will find on this site. Check out Stepan Analyst Recommendation to compare Macroaxis Buy or Sell Recommendation with the current analyst consensus. To check ratings for multiple equity instruments, please use the Instant Ratings tool.
Note, we conduct extensive research on individual companies such as Stepan and provide practical buy, sell, or hold advice based on investors' constraints. Stepan Company. Also, note that the market value of any company could be closely tied with the direction of predictive economic indicators such as signals in main economic indicators.

Execute Stepan Buy or Sell Advice

The Stepan recommendation should be used to complement the buy-or-sell advice compiled from the current analysts' consensus on Stepan Company. Macroaxis does not own or have any residual interests in Stepan Company or other equities on which the buy-or-sell advice is provided. Please provide your input below to execute Stepan's advice using the current market data and latest reported fundamentals.

Time Horizon

Risk Tolerance

Execute Advice
Sell StepanBuy Stepan
Hold

Market Performance

Very WeakDetails

Volatility

Very steadyDetails

Hype Condition

Over hypedDetails

Current Valuation

UndervaluedDetails

Odds Of Distress

Very LowDetails

Economic Sensitivity

Actively responds to the marketDetails

Investor Sentiment

ImpartialDetails

Analyst Consensus

BuyDetails

Financial Strenth (F Score)

StrongDetails

Financial Leverage

Not RatedDetails

Reporting Quality (M-Score)

Possible ManipulatorDetails
For the selected time horizon Stepan Company has a Risk Adjusted Performance of 0.001, Jensen Alpha of (0.20), Total Risk Alpha of (0.32) and Treynor Ratio of (0.02)
Our trade recommendation tool can be used to complement Stepan Company advice provided by experts. It analyzes the firm's potential to grow against your specific risk preferences and investment horizon. To make sure Stepan Company is not overpriced, please validate all Stepan fundamentals, including its number of shares shorted, total debt, beta, as well as the relationship between the gross profit and short ratio . Given that Stepan Company has a price to earning of 18.38 X, we advise you to double-check Stepan Company market performance and probability of bankruptcy to ensure the company can sustain itself in the current economic cycle given your current risk tolerance and investing horizon.

Stepan Trading Alerts and Improvement Suggestions

Stepan Company generated a negative expected return over the last 90 days
Stepan Company has a strong financial position based on the latest SEC filings
Over 85.0% of the company shares are owned by institutional investors
On 13th of June 2025 Stepan paid $ 0.385 per share dividend to its current shareholders
Latest headline from seekingalpha.com: Stepan signals full year adjusted EBITDA and net income growth through operational gains and Pasadena ramp-up

Stepan Returns Distribution Density

The distribution of Stepan's historical returns is an attempt to chart the uncertainty of Stepan's future price movements. The chart of the probability distribution of Stepan daily returns describes the distribution of returns around its average expected value. We use Stepan Company price's Value At Risk and its Upside Potential as a relative measure of the distribution. The graph of the distribution of Stepan returns is essential to provide solid investment advice for Stepan.
Mean Return
-0.02
Value At Risk
-2.84
Potential Upside
3.62
Standard Deviation
2.26
   Return Density   
       Distribution  
Investment risk management requires an estimate of the probability of extreme price changes. Therefore, the correct representation of the distribution of Stepan historical returns presented in an easy-to-digest graphical form helps investors and money managers understand the risk-reward trade-off of different investement strategies.

Stepan Stock Institutional Investors

Shares
Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc2025-03-31
426.4 K
Southernsun Asset Management, Llc2025-03-31
376 K
Bank Of New York Mellon Corp2025-03-31
312.5 K
Northern Trust Corp2025-03-31
280.8 K
Cresset Asset Management, Llc2025-03-31
199.7 K
Gotham Asset Management, Llc2025-03-31
171.9 K
Amvescap Plc.2025-03-31
156.6 K
Qube Research & Technologies2025-03-31
151.6 K
Grace & White Inc2025-03-31
135 K
Blackrock Inc2025-03-31
3.3 M
Vanguard Group Inc2025-03-31
2.6 M
Note, although Stepan's institutional investors appear to be way more sophisticated than retail investors, it remains unclear if professional active investment managers can reliably enhance risk-adjusted returns by an amount that exceeds fees and expenses.

Stepan Cash Flow Accounts

202020212022202320242025 (projected)
Change To Inventory(15.4M)(79.3M)(99.4M)144.8M(37.2M)(35.3M)
Change In Cash34.6M(190.8M)14.6M(43.9M)(30.2M)(28.7M)
Free Cash Flow109.4M(122.3M)(140.8M)(85.5M)39.3M19.9M
Depreciation81.9M90.9M94.7M105.3M112.2M57.9M
Other Non Cash Items9.9M6.8M1.5M7.2M5.4M4.2M
Dividends Paid25.4M28.1M30.6M32.9M34.0M35.6M
Capital Expenditures125.8M194.5M301.6M260.3M122.8M85.8M
Net Income127.7M137.9M147.2M40.2M50.4M54.0M
End Period Cash Flow349.9M159.2M173.8M129.8M99.7M93.1M
Investments(139.0M)(376.8M)(308.1M)(308.1M)(116.9M)(122.8M)
Change Receivables5.2M4.9M(23.4M)(104.2M)(93.8M)(89.1M)
Net Borrowings(53.9M)(23.6M)165.0M223.7M257.2M270.1M
Change To Netincome2.1M5.5M(22.0M)(12.1M)(10.9M)(10.3M)

Stepan Greeks

Most traded equities are subject to two types of risk - systematic (i.e., market) and unsystematic (i.e., nonmarket or company-specific) risk. Unsystematic risk is the risk that events specific to Stepan or Chemicals sector will adversely affect the stock's price. This type of risk can be diversified away by owning several different stocks in different industries whose stock prices have shown a small correlation to each other. On the other hand, systematic risk is the risk that Stepan's price will be affected by overall stock market movements and cannot be diversified away. So, no matter how many positions you have, you cannot eliminate market risk. However, you can measure a Stepan stock's historical response to market movements and buy it if you are comfortable with its volatility direction. Beta and standard deviation are two commonly used measures to help you make the right decision.
α
Alpha over Dow Jones
-0.2
β
Beta against Dow Jones1.65
σ
Overall volatility
2.16
Ir
Information ratio -0.06

Stepan Volatility Alert

Stepan Company exhibits very low volatility with skewness of -0.77 and kurtosis of 4.24. Understanding different market volatility trends often help investors to time the market. Properly using volatility indicators enable traders to measure Stepan's stock risk against market volatility during both bullish and bearish trends. The higher level of volatility that comes with bear markets can directly impact Stepan's stock price while adding stress to investors as they watch their shares' value plummet. This usually forces investors to rebalance their portfolios by buying different financial instruments as prices fall.

Stepan Fundamentals Vs Peers

Comparing Stepan's fundamentals to the average values of its peers is one of the most widely used and accepted methods of equity analyses. It helps to analyze Stepan's direct or indirect competition across all of the common fundamentals between Stepan and the related equities. This way, we can detect undervalued stocks with similar characteristics as Stepan or determine the stocks which would be an excellent addition to an existing portfolio. Peer analysis of Stepan's fundamental indicators could also be used in its relative valuation, which is a method of valuing Stepan by comparing valuation metrics with those of similar companies.
    
 Better Than Average     
    
 Worse Than Average Compare Stepan to competition
FundamentalsStepanPeer Average
Return On Equity0.0477-0.31
Return On Asset0.0201-0.14
Profit Margin0.03 %(1.27) %
Operating Margin0.03 %(5.51) %
Current Valuation1.73 B16.62 B
Shares Outstanding22.58 M571.82 M
Shares Owned By Insiders4.56 %10.09 %
Shares Owned By Institutions85.04 %39.21 %
Number Of Shares Shorted413.77 K4.71 M
Price To Earning18.38 X28.72 X
Price To Book0.91 X9.51 X
Price To Sales0.50 X11.42 X
Revenue2.18 B9.43 B
Gross Profit279.73 M27.38 B
EBITDA192.1 M3.9 B
Net Income50.37 M570.98 M
Cash And Equivalents99.67 M2.7 B
Cash Per Share7.28 X5.01 X
Total Debt682.83 M5.32 B
Debt To Equity0.50 %48.70 %
Current Ratio1.78 X2.16 X
Book Value Per Share54.31 X1.93 K
Cash Flow From Operations162.05 M971.22 M
Short Ratio4.25 X4.00 X
Earnings Per Share2.54 X3.12 X
Price To Earnings To Growth4.34 X4.89 X
Target Price85.0
Number Of Employees2.4 K18.84 K
Beta1.0-0.15
Market Capitalization1.13 B19.03 B
Total Asset2.3 B29.47 B
Retained Earnings1.27 B9.33 B
Working Capital141.4 M1.48 B
Note: Acquisition by Jan Reed of 2500 shares of Stepan at 54.262 subject to Rule 16b-3 [view details]

Stepan Market Momentum

Traders often use several daily momentume indicators to supplement a more traditional technical analysis when analyzing securities such as Stepan . With many different options, investors must choose the best indicators for them and familiarize themselves with how they work. We suggest combining traditional momentum indicators with more near-term forms of technical analysis such as Accumulation Distribution or Daily Balance Of Power. With their quantitative nature, daily value technical indicators can also be incorporated into your automated trading systems.

About Stepan Buy or Sell Advice

When is the right time to buy or sell Stepan Company? Buying financial instruments such as Stepan Stock isn't very hard. However, what challenging for most investors is doing it at the right time to beat the market. Proper market timing is something most people cannot do without sophisticated tools, which help to isolate the right opportunities. Macroaxis provides hands-on modules to deliver winning trades and diversify your portfolios on a daily basis. Most of our advising modules are very easy to use and apply.
Please read more on our stock advisor page.

Use Investing Ideas to Build Portfolios

In addition to having Stepan in your portfolios, you can quickly add positions using our predefined set of ideas and optimize them against your very unique investing style. A single investing idea is a collection of funds, stocks, ETFs, or cryptocurrencies that are programmatically selected from a pull of investment themes. After you determine your investment opportunity, you can then find an optimal portfolio that will maximize potential returns on the chosen idea or minimize its exposure to market volatility.

Did You Try This Idea?

Run Entertainment Thematic Idea Now

Entertainment
Entertainment Theme
Companies from entertainment industry including show business, news and media. The Entertainment theme has 48 constituents at this time.
You can either use a buy-and-hold strategy to lock in the entire theme or actively trade it to take advantage of the short-term price volatility of individual constituents. Macroaxis can help you discover thousands of investment opportunities in different asset classes. In addition, you can partner with us for reliable portfolio optimization as you plan to utilize Entertainment Theme or any other thematic opportunities.
View All  Next Launch
When determining whether Stepan Company is a strong investment it is important to analyze Stepan's competitive position within its industry, examining market share, product or service uniqueness, and competitive advantages. Beyond financials and market position, potential investors should also consider broader economic conditions, industry trends, and any regulatory or geopolitical factors that may impact Stepan's future performance. For an informed investment choice regarding Stepan Stock, refer to the following important reports:
Check out Stepan Analyst Recommendation to compare Macroaxis Buy or Sell Recommendation with the current analyst consensus. To check ratings for multiple equity instruments, please use the Instant Ratings tool.
You can also try the Equity Forecasting module to use basic forecasting models to generate price predictions and determine price momentum.
Is Specialty Chemicals space expected to grow? Or is there an opportunity to expand the business' product line in the future? Factors like these will boost the valuation of Stepan. If investors know Stepan will grow in the future, the company's valuation will be higher. The financial industry is built on trying to define current growth potential and future valuation accurately. All the valuation information about Stepan listed above have to be considered, but the key to understanding future value is determining which factors weigh more heavily than others.
Quarterly Earnings Growth
0.189
Dividend Share
1.53
Earnings Share
2.54
Revenue Per Share
98.912
Quarterly Revenue Growth
0.069
The market value of Stepan Company is measured differently than its book value, which is the value of Stepan that is recorded on the company's balance sheet. Investors also form their own opinion of Stepan's value that differs from its market value or its book value, called intrinsic value, which is Stepan's true underlying value. Investors use various methods to calculate intrinsic value and buy a stock when its market value falls below its intrinsic value. Because Stepan's market value can be influenced by many factors that don't directly affect Stepan's underlying business (such as a pandemic or basic market pessimism), market value can vary widely from intrinsic value.
Please note, there is a significant difference between Stepan's value and its price as these two are different measures arrived at by different means. Investors typically determine if Stepan is a good investment by looking at such factors as earnings, sales, fundamental and technical indicators, competition as well as analyst projections. However, Stepan's price is the amount at which it trades on the open market and represents the number that a seller and buyer find agreeable to each party.