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Chilean producer of lithium, specialty fertilizers and iodine, extracted mainly from brine in the Atacama Desert salt flats.
Chilean producer of lithium, specialty fertilizers and iodine, extracted mainly from brine in the Atacama Desert salt flats.
Sells lithium compounds to battery makers under a mix of contract and spot pricing, so earnings swing with lithium prices, while iodine and specialty fertiliser are steadier. It pays royalties to Chile's development agency Corfo for the Atacama brine, and agreed in 2023 to bring state miner Codelco into that operation as majority partner from 2025.
Moat: narrow (scale, installed base, regulatory licence). Access to some of the world's lowest-cost lithium brine reserves under a government-controlled concession is hard to replicate.
Headquarters: Santiago, Chile · Founded: 1968 · Employees: 7,739
Size Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B (SQM) is a United States Materials company (Chemicals: Specialty) with a market value of $16.0B, the 573rd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $57.52 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 37.1%, against -16.4% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 6th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 58.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.2%); the operating margin is 39.0% (peer median 11.6%).
Valuation It trades at 7.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 15.9× (3rd cheapest of 19).
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 +20%, so the hurdle is -25 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 8.1 points above its cost of capital (9.2% WACC).
Credit Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B has 2 bonds outstanding ($1.20B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like BBB at a weighted spread of 107 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 2.5% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 18 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.71B | $4.57B | $4.49B | $7.47B | $10.8B |
| Revenue growth | — | +2% | -40% | -31% | — |
| Gross profit | $2.82B | $1.34B | $1.31B | $3.07B | $5.80B |
| EBITDA | $3.05B | $1.56B | $1.48B | $3.17B | $5.87B |
| Net income | $1.38B | $587M | -$401M | $2.01B | $3.92B |
| Free cash flow | $1.94B | $437M | $300M | -$1.28B | $3.19B |
| Capital expenditure | $806M | $875M | $974M | $1.12B | $921M |
| Total debt | $5.29B | $4.77B | $4.87B | $4.56B | $2.97B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B SQM | $16.0B | -37% | +59% | 39% | 7.3× | -4.8% |
| Albemarle ALB | $11.7B | -51% | +18% | 14% | 11.3× | 10.9% |
| Ganfeng Lithium 002460.SZ | $9.71B | -57% | +128% | 18% | 11.5× | 4.4% |
| Tianqi Lithium 002466.SZ | $8.97B | -54% | +104% | 57% | 9.0× | -1.2% |
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 | SQM | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -10.8% | -2.0% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -37.1% | -16.4% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -41.3% | -34.5% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +58.6% | +2.2% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 39.0% | 11.6% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 7.3× | 15.9× | 3rd cheapest of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -4.8% | 8.1% | 5th least demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +20.1% | +10.4% | 6th highest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -25.0 pp | -2.8 pp | 4th least demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +8.1 pp | -0.9 pp | 5th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.3× | 10.6× | cheapest of 11 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.3× | 2.2× | 5th least indebted of 13 |
| Bond spread | 107 bp | 118 bp | 3rd tightest of 6 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B SQM | United States | $16.0B | -37% | +59% | 39% | 7.3× | -4.8% | +20.1% |
| Nippon Sanso 4091.T | Japan | $15.3B | +1% | +10% | 15% | 16.9× | 7.8% | +10.7% |
| Symrise SY1.DE | Germany | $15.1B | +30% | -1% | 12% | 24.8× | 8.1% | +7.0% |
| Hengli Petrochemical 600346.SS | China | $17.5B | -25% | -8% | 8% | 9.2× | -8.0% | +5.1% |
| Covestro 1COV.DE | Germany | $14.0B | 0% | -9% | -3% | 200.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Zhejiang Juhua 600160.SS | China | $13.1B | -12% | -5% | 20% | 18.2× | n/a | n/a |
| China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech 600111.SS | China | $19.6B | -31% | +29% | 11% | 28.5× | 24.6% | +14.2% |
| LyondellBasell LYB | United States | $19.6B | -15% | -2% | 10% | 9.5× | -10.3% | +1.7% |
| Lgchem 051910.KS | South Korea | $12.6B | -42% | 0% | 0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Resonac 4004.T | Japan | $12.6B | -26% | +1% | 8% | 18.0× | 26.7% | +6.7% |
| Satellite Chemical 002648.SZ | China | $12.4B | -17% | +20% | 23% | 7.2× | -13.2% | +33.8% |
| Formosa Plastics 1301.TW | Taiwan | $12.1B | +22% | -11% | -2% | 21.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Albemarle ALB | United States | $11.7B | -51% | +18% | 14% | 11.3× | 10.9% | +10.4% |
| Dow DOW | United States | $22.7B | -14% | +4% | 5% | 14.8× | 4.3% | +0.7% |
| Formosa Chemicals & Fibre 1326.TW | Taiwan | $11.1B | +21% | -5% | 1% | 21.0× | 26.2% | +2.5% |
| Ningxia Baofeng Energy 600989.SS | China | $23.4B | -31% | +35% | 35% | 8.4× | -7.8% | +24.8% |
| Swancor Advanced Materials 688585.SS | China | $10.9B | +50% | +3% | -25% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ems-chemie EMSN.SW | Switzerland | $24.3B | +28% | -3% | 30% | 39.4× | 8.6% | +1.6% |
| Ganfeng Lithium 1772.HK | Hong Kong | $9.76B | -72% | +123% | 18% | 6.4× | 9.0% | +32.0% |
| Tianqi Lithium 002466.SZ | China | $8.97B | -54% | +104% | 57% | 9.0× | -1.2% | +26.2% |
| Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology 002709.SZ | China | $8.73B | -53% | +102% | 19% | 10.3× | 9.3% | +32.3% |
Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B has 2 bonds outstanding with $1.20B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like BBB. Weighted yield 5.74%, a spread of 107 bp over government bonds.