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Diversified Japanese chemicals maker spanning plastics, functional polymers, foods (margarine, CoQ10) and biotech.
Diversified Japanese chemicals maker spanning plastics, functional polymers, foods (margarine, CoQ10) and biotech.
Spreads across many product lines that follow different cycles, so no single one sets results: polymers for building and electronics, foods, medical devices and fermentation-made ingredients. Green Planet, a biodegradable plastic produced by bacteria, is the newer bet and depends on building plant capacity to scale it up.
In one line: A diversified Japanese chemicals conglomerate like a smaller BASF.
Moat: narrow (IP / patents, process know-how). Broad specialty-chemical and biotech IP portfolio, though diversified across many sub-scale businesses.
Headquarters: Osaka, Japan · Founded: 1949 · Employees: 11,762
Size Kaneka (4118.T) is a Japan Materials company (Chemicals: Specialty) with a market value of $2.30B, the 444th largest of 1,379 Japan companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at ¥6,016 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 22.9%, against -14.1% for the median peer and +1.8% for the Japan market (cap-weighted) — 2nd highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 3.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +8.4%); the operating margin is 4.8% (peer median 8.6%).
Valuation It trades at 11.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 16.2× (3rd cheapest of 17).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 5% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +7%, so the hurdle is -2 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.2 points below its cost of capital (6.0% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 11 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ¥836B | ¥812B | ¥807B | ¥762B | ¥756B |
| Revenue growth | — | +1% | +6% | +1% | — |
| Gross profit | ¥237B | ¥215B | ¥216B | ¥195B | ¥190B |
| EBITDA | ¥87.8B | ¥79.6B | ¥83.7B | ¥72.9B | ¥74.0B |
| Net income | ¥35.7B | ¥31.0B | ¥25.3B | ¥23.2B | ¥23.0B |
| Free cash flow | n/a | ¥1.35B | -¥9.93B | ¥596M | -¥10.9B |
| Capital expenditure | n/a | ¥53.4B | ¥56.0B | ¥65.3B | ¥42.0B |
| Total debt | ¥227B | ¥231B | ¥223B | ¥195B | ¥176B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaneka 4118.T | $2.30B | +23% | +4% | 5% | 11.6× | 4.9% |
| Basf BAS.DE | $52.6B | +2% | -4% | 7% | 16.8× | 5.7% |
| Mitsubishi Chemical 4188.T | $8.65B | +10% | -8% | 8% | 8.9× | -0.5% |
| DSM-Firmenich DSFIR.AS | $29.5B | +62% | -45% | 8% | 30.1× | 24.3% |
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 | 4118.T | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -1.1% | -5.7% | 4th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +22.9% | -14.1% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -8.4% | -36.6% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +3.5% | +8.4% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 4.8% | 8.6% | 7th lowest of 20 |
| Forward P/E | 11.6× | 16.2× | 3rd cheapest of 17 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 4.9% | 8.2% | 6th least demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.0% | +6.6% | 6th highest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -2.1 pp | +5.7 pp | 5th least demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -2.2 pp | -1.9 pp | 10th highest of 19 |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.4× | 7.4× | 3rd cheapest of 8 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.0× | 0.9× | 3rd most indebted of 8 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaneka 4118.T | Japan | $2.30B | +23% | +4% | 5% | 11.6× | 4.9% | +7.0% |
| Sinochem International 600500.SS | China | $2.27B | -7% | -5% | -1% | n/a | 11.9% | -2.7% |
| Tinergy Chemical 002145.SZ | China | $2.23B | -15% | +17% | 9% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Deepak Nitrite DEEPAKNTR.NS | India | $2.22B | -17% | +25% | 14% | 16.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Shanghai Huayi 600623.SS | China | $2.41B | -24% | +5% | n/a | 14.8× | -11.1% | +10.3% |
| Epoxy Base Electronic Material 603002.SS | China | $2.19B | -7% | +73% | 7% | 71.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Shandong Dongyue Silicone Material 300821.SZ | China | $2.43B | -11% | +13% | 13% | n/a | 20.7% | +8.6% |
| Rogers ROG | United States | $2.17B | -13% | +7% | 10% | 26.2× | 10.3% | +0.2% |
| Zhejiang Yonghe Refrigerant 605020.SS | China | $2.17B | +5% | +25% | 18% | 13.3× | n/a | n/a |
| SKC 011790.KS | South Korea | $2.14B | -46% | +24% | -9% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Daicel 4202.T | Japan | $2.48B | +24% | +2% | 7% | 11.1× | 6.1% | +8.1% |
| Bloomage Biotechnology 688363.SS | China | $2.49B | -16% | -22% | 5% | 55.6× | 20.8% | +9.8% |
| Shaanxi Beiyuan Chemical Industry 601568.SS | China | $2.11B | -9% | -8% | -4% | 11.8× | 11.8% | -1.8% |
| Kemira KEMIRA.HE | Finland | $2.55B | -8% | -3% | 8% | 16.0× | 3.9% | +2.6% |
| Hubei Zhenhua Chemical 603067.SS | China | $2.56B | -35% | +31% | 11% | 23.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Ningbo Ronbay New Energy Technology 688005.SS | China | $2.05B | -45% | +41% | 1% | 37.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Quaker Houghton KWR | United States | $2.58B | +2% | +9% | 9% | 16.9× | 16.3% | +5.9% |
| Dongyue 0189.HK | Hong Kong | $2.04B | -28% | +8% | 19% | 5.6× | -12.4% | +6.6% |
| China Petroleum Engineering 600339.SS | China | $2.60B | -24% | +8% | 1% | 26.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Nifco 7988.T | Japan | $2.62B | +6% | +4% | 14% | 11.7× | -3.5% | +6.6% |
| Guizhou Chanhen Chemical 002895.SZ | China | $2.64B | -20% | +15% | 18% | 12.9× | 2.4% | +36.1% |