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Cabot Corp key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Cabot Corp had return on equity of 22.3%, an operating margin of 16.7%, debt equal to 72.9% of equity and a current ratio of 1.61. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Fiscal year2009Sept 20092010Sept 20102011Sept 20112012Sept 20122013Sept 20132014Sept 20142015Sept 20152016Sept 20162017Sept 20172018Sept 20182019Sept 20192020Sept 20202021Sept 20212022Sept 20222023Sept 20232024Sept 20242025Sept 2025LTMJun 2026
Gross margin10.3%18.8%18.0%19.6%18.3%19.8%20.4%23.8%24.2%23.8%20.5%19.1%23.4%20.5%21.3%24.0%25.3%22.7%
Operating margin−2.6%7.5%7.8%8.8%7.8%9.2%−11.0%10.2%12.4%4.4%9.2%0.8%13.3%9.0%13.4%15.4%16.7%13.6%
Net margin−3.7%5.7%7.6%11.8%4.4%5.5%−11.6%6.1%9.1%−3.5%4.7%−9.1%7.3%4.8%11.3%9.5%8.9%5.2%
Free-cash-flow margin13.9%5.2%−1.1%4.1%4.5%3.9%12.5%11.6%7.4%2.1%4.2%6.8%1.8%−2.6%8.9%11.3%10.5%7.7%
Return on equity−6.8%12.6%16.9%23.5%8.1%10.2%−21.0%11.7%17.9%−8.5%14.6%−28.2%30.5%22.7%41.2%28.3%22.3%12.0%
Return on assets−2.9%5.5%7.8%10.3%3.5%4.8%−9.3%4.8%7.8%−3.4%5.0%−8.2%8.2%6.1%12.5%10.4%8.8%4.9%
Asset turnover0.790.981.030.870.800.880.800.790.850.991.070.901.121.271.101.090.980.93
Current ratio2.522.672.371.571.772.172.382.641.751.462.021.851.241.651.982.081.611.47
Debt to equity57.9%50.1%50.8%88.5%67.4%56.5%80.6%72.8%78.7%90.3%108.0%161.4%122.7%160.7%100.9%80.0%72.9%79.3%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)n/m5.1x6.2x6.3x4.3x6.1xn/m4.6x6.4x2.7x5.2x0.4x9.3x6.9x5.8x7.6x8.2x6.7x
Effective tax rate—18.1%3.0%22.4%28.6%29.9%—17.3%11.0%—27.5%—30.3%30.4%−6.2%21.0%34.7%46.2%
R&D as % of revenue3.1%2.4%2.1%2.2%2.0%1.6%2.0%2.2%2.1%2.0%1.8%2.2%1.6%1.3%1.4%1.6%1.6%1.5%
SG&A as % of revenue9.7%8.9%8.0%8.5%8.6%8.9%9.8%11.4%9.6%9.5%8.7%11.2%8.5%6.0%6.4%7.1%7.0%7.6%
Capital spending as % of revenue5.0%4.0%7.4%8.5%7.6%4.7%4.9%4.6%5.4%7.1%6.7%7.7%5.7%4.9%6.2%6.0%7.4%5.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income—91.6%−14.8%34.5%101.3%72.4%—190.5%81.0%—88.5%—24.8%−53.1%78.9%118.7%118.1%147.9%
Dividends ÷ net income—30.5%19.9%12.6%33.3%27.1%—44.2%31.0%—51.0%—32.0%40.2%19.8%24.5%29.0%51.1%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow17.1%36.9%—63.4%36.8%50.0%43.9%39.3%68.7%321.7%182.0%70.1%133.9%—53.0%58.8%67.5%84.3%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

4 of 6 checks passed · June 30, 2026
What it owns · $4.0bn
Short-term assets $1.7bnLonger-term assets $2.3bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $2.7bn
Short-term liabilities $1.1bnShareholders' equity $1.6bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.7bn of assets due within a year against $1.1bn of liabilities due within a year.
  • Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
  • More cash than debt $250m of cash against $1.1bn of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 68% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 90% to 68% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $497m of operating cash flow against $1.1bn of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $493m against $74m of interest.

From Cabot Corp's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

68 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Cabot's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

  • Returns on capital 20 / 20

    Cash operating profit has been a median 15.0% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 9 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 23.1%, moving by 2.0 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.

  • Durability 7 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 11.4%; its worst year was 3.7%.

  • Cash conversion 13 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 9 of 10 years, at a median 7.0% of revenue.

  • Discipline 19 / 20

    The diluted share count fell 7.0% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.5% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Cabot Corp's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 26, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Cabot Corp.