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Japanese specialty chemicals maker known for PVA/vinylon fibers, EVAL barrier resin and Seaguar fishing line.
Japanese specialty chemicals maker known for PVA/vinylon fibers, EVAL barrier resin and Seaguar fishing line.
Sells specialised materials where it is often the leading or only large maker, such as EVAL, a resin used as an oxygen barrier in food packaging, and PVA resins for films. Calgon Carbon, bought in 2018, adds activated carbon for water treatment, and dental materials add further spread.
In one line: A diversified Japanese specialty-materials maker like Celanese.
Moat: narrow (IP / patents, process know-how, scale). Global leadership in PVA and EVAL barrier-resin technology with proprietary chemistry.
Headquarters: Kurashiki, Japan · Founded: 1926 · Employees: 12,117
Size Kuraray (3405.T) is a Japan Materials company (Chemicals: Major Diversified) with a market value of $3.52B, the 325th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥1,842 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 14.2%, against -8.8% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 4th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 2.9% over the last twelve months (peer median +5.0%); the operating margin is 7.3% (peer median 6.9%).
Valuation It trades at 15.0× forward earnings against a peer median of 16.7× (8th cheapest of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 0% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is -9 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.6 points below its cost of capital (5.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 11 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥840B | ¥808B | ¥827B | ¥781B | ¥756B |
| Revenue growth | — | -2% | +6% | +3% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥258B | ¥247B | ¥268B | ¥241B | ¥243B |
| EBITDA | ¥144B | ¥144B | ¥170B | ¥153B | ¥153B |
| Net income | ¥7.66B | ¥7.47B | ¥31.7B | ¥42.4B | ¥54.3B |
| Free cash flow | n/a | ¥936M | ¥62.5B | ¥68.7B | -¥20.9B |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | ¥97.7B | ¥75.8B | ¥60.6B | ¥72.7B |
| Total debt | ¥319B | ¥334B | ¥287B | ¥320B | ¥358B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kuraray 3405.T | $3.52B | +14% | +3% | 7% | 15.0× | -0.2% |
| Celanese CE | $5.10B | -19% | +1% | 9% | 7.6× | 5.3% |
| Sekisui Chemical 4204.T | $6.61B | +9% | +6% | 9% | 13.4× | n/a |
| Mitsubishi Chemical 4188.T | $8.65B | +10% | -8% | 8% | 8.9× | -0.5% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | 3405.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +1.3% | -11.5% | 5th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +14.2% | -8.8% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -11.8% | -26.7% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +2.9% | +5.0% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 7.3% | 6.9% | 11th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 15.0× | 16.7× | 8th cheapest of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -0.2% | 9.4% | 3rd least demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +8.3% | +7.3% | 5th highest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -8.5 pp | +2.4 pp | 3rd least demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -0.6 pp | -1.9 pp | 7th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.3× | 9.3× | cheapest of 11 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.3× | 1.8× | 5th least indebted of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kuraray 3405.T | Japan | $3.52B | +14% | +3% | 7% | 15.0× | -0.2% | +8.3% |
| Johnson Matthey JMAT.L | United Kingdom | $4.01B | +14% | +8% | 3% | 13.3× | 9.6% | -4.0% |
| Mitsui Chemicals 4183.T | Japan | $4.08B | -9% | -3% | 6% | 10.7× | 1.9% | +6.6% |
| Avient AVNT | United States | $4.17B | +23% | +5% | 11% | 13.0× | 9.9% | +0.1% |
| Hubei Xingfa Chemicals 600141.SS | China | $4.19B | -27% | +4% | 8% | 15.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Grandit 688549.SS | China | $2.89B | +36% | +40% | -1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| CES Energy Solutions CEU.TO | Canada | $2.82B | +4% | +11% | 10% | 14.1× | 9.2% | +22.9% |
| Wacker Chemie WCH.DE | Germany | $4.42B | -24% | -5% | -1% | 33.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Perimeter Solutions PRM | United States | $4.83B | -7% | +24% | -51% | 18.3× | 36.6% | +14.0% |
| Kingfa Sci. & Tech 600143.SS | China | $4.96B | -28% | -1% | 3% | 24.6× | -1.2% | +13.3% |
| Arkema AKE.PA | France | $4.96B | -9% | -6% | 5% | 13.7× | 12.5% | +2.8% |
| Tokyo Ohka Kogyo 4186.T | Japan | $5.03B | -30% | +22% | 21% | 17.8× | 19.9% | +15.1% |
| Nippon Shokubai 4114.T | Japan | $2.27B | +11% | +4% | 6% | 16.2× | 4.1% | +7.9% |
| Hubei Sinophorus Electronic Materials 688545.SS | China | $2.24B | +11% | +75% | 11% | 68.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Aether Industries AETHER.NS | India | $2.20B | +29% | +31% | 25% | 72.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Ingevity NGVT | United States | $2.07B | -21% | -12% | 25% | 10.4× | -0.9% | -0.8% |
| Eternal Materials 1717.TW | Taiwan | $2.06B | -27% | -2% | 5% | 17.2× | 19.9% | +1.2% |
| Zhejiang Yongtai Technology 002326.SZ | China | $2.04B | -40% | +38% | 11% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Qingdao Huicheng Environmental Technology 300779.SZ | China | $2.02B | -9% | -13% | 5% | 129.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Innospec IOSP | United States | $1.93B | -3% | +5% | 8% | 13.4× | 4.4% | +8.3% |
| Ecopro 086520.KS | South Korea | $6.55B | -57% | +11% | 9% | 31.5× | n/a | n/a |