One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$71.40 our estimate vs market $78.65
Wall Street consensus: $85.45 (19.7% higher than our fair-value estimate)
10% above our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
Givaudan SA
GVDNY · PNK · Basic Materials · Specialty Chemicals
Current price
$78.65
52-week range
$65.97 - $90.69
Market cap
$36.30B
Balance sheet
Stretched
12.17x Strong cushion
Net debt $5.61B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
1 Risk
3 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 0.8% last year.
- Reward Returns 22.3% on equity, ahead of 80% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.7%).
What this company does
Givaudan SA
Givaudan is a Swiss company that creates the scents and flavors found in thousands of everyday products, from perfumes and soaps to sodas and snacks. The company makes its money by selling these custom ingredients to big consumer brands that make the final products you buy in the store. This business model tends to be very stable because people continue to purchase these essential household goods regardless of how the economy is doing.
How the company got here
Givaudan's story starts back in 1895 in Switzerland, originally creating scents for perfumes. A key moment was its acquisition by the pharmaceutical company Roche in 1963, which helped it grow significantly. In 2000, Givaudan became an independent company again and is now publicly traded on the Swiss stock exchange. Over the years, it has grown by acquiring other companies, which has expanded its range of products and its global presence.
What it actually does
You've almost certainly used a product with a Givaudan ingredient today without knowing it. The company works behind the scenes, creating the specific smells and tastes for thousands of consumer products. Think of the scent in your laundry detergent, the flavor in your yogurt, or the fragrance in a high-end perfume; Givaudan develops those for major brands. They are a business-to-business company, meaning their customers are other companies, not everyday shoppers.
Fragrance & Beauty
This is Givaudan's original and largest business, making up a little more than half of its sales. It creates the scents that go into everything from fine perfumes for luxury brands to the smell of your shampoo, soap, and cleaning products. This division also produces 'active beauty' ingredients, which are the components in skincare that provide a specific benefit, like moisturizing or anti-aging. The customers are global consumer goods companies, prestige perfume brands, and cosmetics makers.
Taste & Wellbeing
This part of the company, which accounts for slightly less than half of its revenue, develops the flavors for a huge variety of foods and drinks. This includes everything from the taste of fizzy drinks and snacks to dairy products and savory meals. They also create nutritional ingredients that might add health benefits to a product. Their customers are the big food and beverage companies that make the products you see in the grocery store.
What management is betting on now
Givaudan's strategy focuses on growing by creating innovative, high-value products for its customers. They are expanding into related areas like natural ingredients, health and wellness products, and beauty ingredients to meet consumer demand for more natural and healthy options. The company is also focused on growing its business with smaller, local brands, especially in fast-growing markets. A key goal is to maintain a strong free cash flow (the cash a company has left after paying for its operating expenses and capital expenditures, which are investments in its physical assets), ensuring financial stability and the ability to invest in future growth.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $71.40 vs current price $78.65
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $85.45 (19.7% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $71.40 a share — about 9.2% away from today's price of $78.65, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $5.6B. Interest coverage 12.2x.
Net debt
$5.61B
Interest coverage
12.17x
Givaudan SA's profit covers its interest bill about 12.2 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
GVDNY
BASELINE
Givaudan SA
Total debt $6.00B Interest coverage 12.17x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $6.28B Interest coverage 3.68x -70% vs GVDNY Carries about 3.3x less debt cushion than GVDNY.
Total debt $7.81B Interest coverage 3.97x -67% vs GVDNY Carries about 3.1x less debt cushion than GVDNY.
Total debt $763.90M Interest coverage 7.00x -42% vs GVDNY Carries about 1.7x less debt cushion than GVDNY.
Total debt $1.06B Interest coverage 9.21x -24% vs GVDNY Carries about 1.3x less debt cushion than GVDNY.
What you should know
The case for and against GVDNY
3 Rewards
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 0.8% last year.
-
Returns 22.3% on equity, ahead of 80% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
Risks
-
Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.7%).
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)
31.46x
Forward P/E
0.50x
P/B
6.74x
P/S
4.90x
EV/EBITDA
25.76x
PEG ratio
4.19x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
43.7%
Operating margin
18.8%
Net margin
12.9%
ROE
22.3%
ROA
7.1%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.11x
Current ratio
1.29x
Quick ratio
0.74x
Total debt
$6.00B
Total cash
$385.93M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$9.05B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
1.6%
EPS TTM
2.50
EPS 5Y CAGR
7.7%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$1.85B
Free CF TTM
$1.47B
FCF margin
16.3%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
2.3%
Payout ratio
71.1%
Last ex-div date
2026-03-24