One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$4.98 our estimate vs market $10.52
Wall Street consensus: $11.46 (129.9% higher than our fair-value estimate)
111% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
DSM-Firmenich AG
DSFIY · OQX · Basic Materials · Specialty Chemicals
Current price
$10.52
52-week range
$6.40 - $11.16
Market cap
$25.84B
Balance sheet
Stretched
3.97x Stretched
Net debt $5.11B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Returns 1.9% on equity, ahead of 33% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 1733.7% over 3 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.2%).
What this company does
DSM-Firmenich AG
DSM-Firmenich is a 'behind-the-scenes' company that creates specialty ingredients for thousands of consumer products, like the scents in perfumes, flavors in food, and vitamins in supplements. The company earns revenue (the money a company makes from sales) by selling these ingredients to major brands in the beauty, food, and health industries. This means its success is tied to how well those final products sell to everyday shoppers.
How the company got here
DSM-Firmenich was formed in May 2023 through a merger of two long-standing European companies: Royal DSM from the Netherlands and Firmenich from Switzerland. DSM began in 1902 as a coal mining company called Dutch State Mines, but over a century, it transformed itself into a science-focused business specializing in nutrition and health. Firmenich started in a garage in 1895, growing from a small perfumery business into a global leader in creating scents and flavors. The two companies joined forces to become a single, powerful partner for businesses in the nutrition, health, and beauty industries.
What it actually does
You won't find the DSM-Firmenich name on a bottle at the store, but their ingredients are in many products you use every day. The company is a behind-the-scenes creator, developing and supplying the scents, flavors, textures, and nutritional ingredients that other companies use in their final products. This could be the fragrance in a perfume, the taste of a plant-based burger, or the vitamins in a dietary supplement. Essentially, they provide the key components that make food delicious, personal care products enjoyable, and health products effective.
Perfumery & Beauty
This part of the company creates the scents and ingredients for everything from fine perfumes to laundry detergents, shampoos, and skin care products. Big consumer brands pay DSM-Firmenich to develop unique fragrances that make their products desirable and recognizable. Using a vast palette of natural, synthetic (man-made), and biotech ingredients, they design the smells that can evoke emotions and memories. This segment acts as a creative partner for luxury beauty companies and makers of everyday household goods.
Taste, Texture & Health
This is the company's largest business, focused on the ingredients that go into the food and drinks we consume. Food and beverage manufacturers are the main customers, buying everything from flavors and natural extracts to ingredients that improve the texture or health profile of a product. For example, they might develop a way to reduce sugar in a soda without losing sweetness or create a plant-based protein that has the satisfying feel of real meat. This segment helps make food more delicious, nutritious, and sustainable for a growing global population.
Health, Nutrition & Care
This segment provides essential nutrients and active ingredients for products that support health and well-being at all life stages. Their customers include makers of dietary supplements, baby formula, medical nutrition, and pharmaceuticals. They produce a wide range of ingredients like vitamins, probiotics (live bacteria that can have health benefits), and omega-3s from algae. The goal is to provide the building blocks that help other companies create products to boost immunity, support infant development, or manage specific health needs.
What management is betting on now
The company is focusing on becoming a more streamlined, consumer-focused business by selling its Animal Nutrition & Health division. A key priority is to accelerate growth and improve profitability by concentrating on high-growth, high-margin (where the profit is a larger percentage of the sales price) areas in nutrition, health, and beauty. They are also betting heavily on science and innovation, using research in areas like biotechnology and AI to create unique and sustainable ingredients for their customers. Management aims to be an essential partner for brands, helping them meet consumer demands for healthier and more environmentally friendly products.
Price history
How the share price has moved
—
Loading price history…
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $4.98 vs current price $10.52
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $11.46 (129.9% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $4.98 a share — about 52.6% below today's price of $10.52, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $5.1B. Interest coverage 4.0x.
Net debt
$5.11B
Interest coverage
3.97x
DSM-Firmenich AG's profit covers its interest bill about 4.0 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
DSFIY
BASELINE
DSM-Firmenich AG
Total debt $7.76B Interest coverage 3.97x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $6.28B Interest coverage 3.68x -7% vs DSFIY Has roughly the same debt cushion as DSFIY.
Total debt $3.24B Interest coverage 10.19x +156% vs DSFIY Carries about 2.6x more debt cushion than DSFIY.
Total debt $763.90M Interest coverage 7.00x +76% vs DSFIY Carries about 1.8x more debt cushion than DSFIY.
Total debt $166.72M Interest coverage 20.48x +415% vs DSFIY Carries about 5.2x more debt cushion than DSFIY.
Total debt $3.18B Interest coverage 2.75x -31% vs DSFIY Carries about 1.4x less debt cushion than DSFIY.
What you should know
The case for and against DSFIY
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Returns 1.9% on equity, ahead of 33% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
-
Dividend yield is 19.1% with 2-year payout history.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 1733.7% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.2%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
65.75x
Forward P/E
21.69x
P/B
1.27x
P/S
2.85x
EV/EBITDA
23.64x
PEG ratio
0.66x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
39.2%
Operating margin
7.9%
Net margin
-15.2%
ROE
1.9%
ROA
1.2%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.38x
Current ratio
1.75x
Quick ratio
0.82x
Total debt
$7.76B
Total cash
$2.65B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$10.39B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
2.5%
EPS TTM
0.16
EPS 5Y CAGR
—
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$1.66B
Free CF TTM
$746.73M
FCF margin
7.2%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
19.1%
Payout ratio
1,227.5%
Last ex-div date
2026-05-12