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Makes industrial process fluids (lubricants, coolants) used in metalworking and steel manufacturing.
Makes industrial process fluids (lubricants, coolants) used in metalworking and steel manufacturing.
Sells fluids that customers consume continuously in their plants, so revenue repeats with their output, and its own technical staff often manage the fluids on site, paid through the product price. The 2019 merger with Houghton International created the present company and gave it a global footprint.
Moat: narrow (process know-how, customer qualification, switching costs). Deep technical service relationships embedded in customer manufacturing processes create switching costs.
Headquarters: Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, US · Founded: 1918 · Employees: 4,700
Size Quaker Houghton (KWR) is a United States Materials company (Chemicals: Specialty) with a market value of $2.58B, the 1633rd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $150.02 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 1.7%, against -14.0% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 5th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 8.7% over the last twelve months (peer median +8.0%); the operating margin is 9.1% (peer median 8.6%).
Valuation It trades at 16.9× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.7× (9th cheapest of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 16% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +6%, so the hurdle is +10 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 3.5 points below its cost of capital (10.2% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 10.0% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 25 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.03B | $1.89B | $1.84B | $1.95B | $1.94B |
| Revenue growth | — | +3% | -6% | +1% | — |
| Gross profit | $660M | $616M | $628M | $647M | $555M |
| EBITDA | $287M | $270M | $285M | $304M | $238M |
| Net income | $97.0M | -$2.47M | $116M | $112M | -$15.8M |
| Free cash flow | $39.4M | $80.6M | $163M | $240M | $13.3M |
| Capital expenditure | $54.7M | $55.9M | $41.8M | $38.8M | $28.5M |
| Total debt | $940M | $906M | $738M | $789M | $992M |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quaker Houghton KWR | $2.58B | +2% | +9% | 9% | 16.9× | 16.3% |
| BP PLC Sponsored ADR BP | $119B | +3% | +26% | 14% | 6.6× | n/a |
| Henkel AG & Co. KGaA HEN.DE | $35.4B | +25% | -3% | 15% | 13.6× | -1.9% |
| Idemitsu Kosan 5019.T | $9.54B | -9% | -3% | 6% | 7.1× | -12.8% |
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 | KWR | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -5.1% | -6.8% | 8th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +1.7% | -14.0% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -18.0% | -34.8% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +8.7% | +8.0% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 9.1% | 8.6% | 10th highest of 20 |
| Forward P/E | 16.9× | 17.7× | 9th cheapest of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 16.3% | 9.0% | 4th most demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +5.9% | +8.3% | 3rd lowest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +10.3 pp | -0.3 pp | 5th most demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -3.5 pp | -1.1 pp | 4th lowest of 19 |
| EV / EBITDA | 11.7× | 7.1× | 3rd most expensive of 7 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.7× | 1.2× | 2nd most indebted of 7 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quaker Houghton KWR | United States | $2.58B | +2% | +9% | 9% | 16.9× | 16.3% | +5.9% |
| Hubei Zhenhua Chemical 603067.SS | China | $2.56B | -35% | +31% | 11% | 23.6× | n/a | n/a |
| China Petroleum Engineering 600339.SS | China | $2.60B | -24% | +8% | 1% | 26.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Kemira KEMIRA.HE | Finland | $2.55B | -8% | -3% | 8% | 16.0× | 3.9% | +2.6% |
| 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% |
| Bloomage Biotechnology 688363.SS | China | $2.49B | -16% | -22% | 5% | 55.6× | 20.8% | +9.8% |
| K+s SDF.DE | Germany | $2.68B | -13% | +6% | 34% | 11.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Daicel 4202.T | Japan | $2.48B | +24% | +2% | 7% | 11.1× | 6.1% | +8.1% |
| Shandong Dongyue Silicone Material 300821.SZ | China | $2.43B | -11% | +13% | 13% | n/a | 20.7% | +8.6% |
| Shanghai Huayi 600623.SS | China | $2.41B | -24% | +5% | n/a | 14.8× | -11.1% | +10.3% |
| PI Industries PIIND.NS | India | $2.79B | -44% | -15% | 13% | 22.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Shanghai Bairun Investment 002568.SZ | China | $2.82B | -8% | +8% | 28% | 24.2× | 14.5% | +8.8% |
| Qingdao Gon Technology 002768.SZ | China | $2.83B | +48% | +15% | 7% | 17.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Beijing Easpring Material Technology 300073.SZ | China | $2.86B | -45% | +116% | 5% | 18.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Sichuan Qiaoyuan Gas 301286.SZ | China | $2.88B | -4% | +8% | 26% | 73.4× | 31.8% | +8.0% |
| 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 |
| XTC New Energy Materials (Xiamen) 688778.SS | China | $3.01B | -52% | +78% | 4% | 19.2× | 16.0% | +20.0% |