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Specialty chemicals maker best known for superabsorbent polymers used in diapers, plus acrylic acid and catalysts.
Specialty chemicals maker best known for superabsorbent polymers used in diapers, plus acrylic acid and catalysts.
Makes acrylic acid and turns much of it into superabsorbent polymer, so the two products rise and fall together with propylene costs and global capacity. The polymer is sold to diaper makers under long-running supply relationships, with plants in Europe and Asia as well as Japan placing it near customers. Catalysts broaden income outside hygiene.
In one line: A key global supplier of diaper superabsorbent polymer.
Moat: narrow (scale, process know-how). One of the world's largest superabsorbent-polymer producers, capital-intensive to replicate.
Headquarters: Osaka, Japan · Founded: 1941 · Employees: 4,880
Size Nippon Shokubai (4114.T) is a Japan Materials company (Chemicals: Major Diversified) with a market value of $2.27B, the 450th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥2,402 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 11.3%, against -6.0% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 4th highest of 19 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 3.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +11.1%); the operating margin is 6.0% (peer median 9.8%).
Valuation It trades at 16.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 25.6× (6th cheapest of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 4% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is -4 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 1.5 points below its cost of capital (5.5% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 9 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥420B | ¥400B | ¥409B | ¥392B | ¥420B |
| Revenue growth | — | -2% | +4% | -7% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥83.6B | ¥76.2B | ¥71.8B | ¥69.4B | ¥81.8B |
| EBITDA | ¥57.7B | ¥49.2B | ¥48.5B | ¥48.0B | ¥52.9B |
| Net income | ¥22.7B | ¥16.8B | ¥17.4B | ¥11.0B | ¥19.4B |
| Free cash flow | ¥3.22B | ¥4.53B | ¥13.1B | ¥38.7B | ¥19.8B |
| Capital expenditure | ¥49.3B | ¥49.7B | ¥35.0B | ¥20.6B | ¥23.1B |
| Total debt | ¥67.0B | ¥65.5B | ¥46.6B | ¥45.6B | ¥57.6B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nippon Shokubai 4114.T | $2.27B | +11% | +4% | 6% | 16.2× | 4.1% |
| Basf BAS.DE | $52.6B | +2% | -4% | 7% | 16.8× | 5.7% |
| Sumitomo Seika Chemicals 4008.T | $545M | +12% | +5% | 10% | n/a | -5.2% |
| Lgchem 051910.KS | $12.6B | -42% | 0% | 0% | n/a | n/a |
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 | 4114.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -7.1% | -11.9% | 7th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +11.3% | -6.0% | 4th highest of 19 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -12.2% | -29.3% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +3.6% | +11.1% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 6.0% | 9.8% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 16.2× | 25.6× | 6th cheapest of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 4.1% | 2.1% | 6th least demanding of 11 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.9% | +8.0% | 6th highest of 11 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -3.8 pp | -6.2 pp | 5th most demanding of 11 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -1.5 pp | -0.9 pp | 10th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.7× | 11.9× | 2nd cheapest of 13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.3× | 1.3× | 5th least indebted of 13 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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% |
| CES Energy Solutions CEU.TO | Canada | $2.82B | +4% | +11% | 10% | 14.1× | 9.2% | +22.9% |
| Grandit 688549.SS | China | $2.89B | +36% | +40% | -1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Advanced Echem Materials 4749.TWO | Taiwan | $1.72B | -39% | +19% | 25% | 33.1× | n/a | n/a |
| AARTI Industries AARTIIND.NS | India | $1.71B | -9% | +40% | 9% | 29.1× | n/a | n/a |
| Borregaard BRG.OL | Norway | $1.68B | +7% | +3% | 17% | 24.4× | -1.0% | +7.7% |
| Nippon Kayaku 4272.T | Japan | $1.66B | +3% | +14% | 10% | 10.1× | -4.8% | +6.9% |
| Metis TechBio 7666.HK | Hong Kong | $1.66B | n/a | +6,987% | -367% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Valiant 002643.SZ | China | $1.66B | -28% | +3% | 10% | 25.6× | 17.4% | +4.9% |
| Huntsman HUN | United States | $1.66B | -37% | +6% | 0% | 353.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Fine Organic Industries FINEORG.NS | India | $1.64B | +9% | +13% | 20% | 33.4× | 26.7% | +15.7% |
| Alzchem ACT0.DE | Germany | $1.56B | n/a | +5% | 16% | 20.9× | -1.1% | +8.2% |
| Kuraray 3405.T | Japan | $3.52B | +14% | +3% | 7% | 15.0× | -0.2% | +8.3% |
| Jilin Chemical Fibre Stock 000420.SZ | China | $1.42B | -25% | +11% | 5% | 154.0× | n/a | n/a |