undamentalytics Newsletter
Sign in

Sensient Technologies Corp key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Sensient Technologies Corp had return on equity of 11.9%, an operating margin of 12.8%, debt equal to 59.5% of equity and a current ratio of 4.10. 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 year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMSept 2026
Gross margin———————————31.8%32.9%34.0%31.6%32.6%33.5%35.1%
Operating margin12.2%13.1%12.8%12.8%11.5%8.8%11.8%13.1%12.0%14.7%9.2%11.5%12.3%13.7%10.6%12.3%12.8%14.5%
Net margin7.2%8.1%8.1%8.2%7.5%4.9%7.6%8.9%6.4%11.3%6.2%8.2%8.6%9.8%6.4%8.0%8.3%9.7%
Free-cash-flow margin7.5%7.5%4.8%2.4%3.3%7.4%3.4%7.2%−1.4%2.4%10.4%12.5%6.1%−4.7%5.6%6.3%2.4%−1.0%
Return on equity9.5%11.3%11.9%11.2%9.5%6.4%11.3%15.0%10.6%18.4%9.4%12.1%12.7%14.5%9.1%11.8%11.9%13.7%
Return on assets5.4%6.7%7.4%7.2%6.2%4.0%6.1%7.5%5.3%8.9%4.6%6.3%6.8%7.6%4.7%6.2%6.3%7.2%
Asset turnover0.750.830.910.880.830.820.810.840.820.780.740.770.790.770.730.770.760.74
Current ratio3.043.283.413.683.543.383.423.363.393.833.913.433.193.433.963.554.103.97
Debt to equity47.1%35.6%32.0%30.7%28.6%44.6%75.1%72.2%73.3%82.5%70.2%57.4%54.6%65.1%62.5%59.7%59.5%61.4%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)6.2x8.6x9.8x11.4x10.8x8.1x9.8x10.1x8.7x9.3x6.0x10.3x13.6x13.5x6.2x6.7x7.0x8.0x
Effective tax rate29.7%30.5%29.7%28.9%27.5%28.6%28.2%26.5%39.6%13.3%18.8%20.6%24.6%22.7%28.1%23.4%24.3%23.8%
R&D as % of revenue2.4%2.3%2.2%2.3%2.3%2.4%2.5%2.9%2.9%3.1%3.0%2.9%2.5%2.9%3.3%3.2%3.3%—
SG&A as % of revenue18.5%17.6%17.4%17.9%20.0%24.0%20.4%20.4%22.0%18.9%22.2%20.4%20.6%20.3%21.0%20.3%20.6%20.6%
Capital spending as % of revenue4.0%4.2%4.9%6.9%6.9%5.3%5.7%5.7%4.0%3.7%3.0%3.9%4.4%5.5%6.0%3.8%5.5%7.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income104.7%93.2%58.7%28.7%43.5%149.1%45.0%81.1%−22.4%20.8%168.3%152.2%71.1%−47.7%87.6%78.6%28.6%−10.3%
Dividends ÷ net income42.8%36.4%34.8%35.0%40.2%65.0%45.1%39.3%60.3%36.5%75.8%60.3%56.2%48.9%74.1%55.7%51.8%41.2%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow40.9%39.1%59.4%187.2%92.3%168.6%467.0%97.4%—409.2%45.0%39.6%129.3%—84.6%70.9%181.2%—

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

2 of 6 checks passed · September 30, 2026
What it owns · $2.5bn
Short-term assets $1.3bnLonger-term assets $1.2bn
What it owes, and who funded it · $1.6bn
Short-term liabilities $323mShareholders' equity $1.3bn
  • Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.3bn of assets due within a year against $323m 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 $43m of cash against $790m of debt.
  • Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 61% of equity.
  • Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 55% to 61% over five years.
  • A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $120m of operating cash flow against $790m of debt.
  • Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $254m against $32m of interest.

From Sensient Technologies 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

56 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Sensient Technologies'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 9 / 20

    Net income has been a median 6.6% of total assets over 10 years.

  • Pricing power 12 / 20

    Gross margin has been a median 33.6%, moving by 1.2 percentage points (standard deviation) across 5 years.

  • Durability 12 / 20

    Operating margin has been a median 13.1%; its worst year was 7.9%.

  • Cash conversion 7 / 20

    Free cash flow was positive in 6 of 10 years, at a median 1.0% of revenue.

  • Discipline 16 / 20

    The diluted share count rose 1.0% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.6% 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.

Compare with peers

Head to head: ASH vs SXTIOSP vs SXTKWR vs SXT

More: Specialty Chemicals stocks compared, Materials sector, rankings of US companies

Figures from Sensient Technologies Corp's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Sensient Technologies Corp.