One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$135.38 our estimate vs market $70.75
Wall Street consensus: $89.00 (-34.3% lower than our fair-value estimate)
48% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Ingevity Corporation
NGVT · NYQ · Basic Materials · Specialty Chemicals
Current price
$70.75
52-week range
$45.85 - $79.29
Market cap
$2.43B
Balance sheet
Distressed
3.40x Stretched
Net debt $1.14B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
2 Rewards
2 Risks
2 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Returns 30.1% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Stock trades 700.6% above its 5-year average P/E.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.8% (peer median: 1.3%).
What this company does
Ingevity Corporation
Ingevity Corporation makes special materials that help control pollution from car gas tanks and clean up water, as well as chemicals for roads and advanced plastics used in things like coatings and medical devices. The money primarily comes from selling these activated carbon products and specialty chemicals, which is important because it shows where their main business and revenue streams are. They sell these products globally to car companies and other industries.
How the company got here
Ingevity Corporation, founded in 1964, has a history rooted in specialty chemicals and activated carbon businesses that were once part of MeadWestvaco. The company became an independent public entity in 2016 after being spun off from WestRock. This separation allowed Ingevity to focus on its core strengths and pursue growth opportunities. Over the years, Ingevity has made strategic acquisitions, such as Ozark Materials in 2019 and the Capa caprolactone platform in 2021, to expand its product offerings and market reach. The company's name itself, a blend of "ingenuity" and "longevity," reflects its commitment to innovation and enduring solutions.
What it actually does
Ingevity develops, manufactures, and markets a range of specialty materials that help purify, protect, and enhance various products and industrial processes. Their solutions are designed to solve complex technical challenges for their customers, often in business-to-business markets where performance and reliability are critical. The company's products find applications in diverse areas such as automotive components, infrastructure, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing, aiming to improve mobility, extend the life of infrastructure, and optimize industrial processes.
Performance Materials
This segment is centered on activated carbon, a highly porous material used for purification and adsorption. Ingevity's activated carbon products are crucial for controlling gasoline vapor emissions from vehicles, helping manufacturers meet environmental standards. They are also used in a wide array of industrial applications, including the purification of air, water, food, and beverages, as well as in chemical processes. This business line is a significant part of Ingevity's operations, focusing on both automotive and industrial purification needs.
Performance Chemicals
The Performance Chemicals segment includes road technologies and industrial specialties. This means Ingevity provides materials used in building and maintaining roads, such as asphalt paving components and road marking materials. Additionally, this segment offers specialty chemicals that act as dispersants for agrochemicals, lubricants, and adhesives, serving various industrial uses. The company has been repositioning this segment to improve profitability and reduce its susceptibility to market fluctuations, including exploring alternative chemistries and streamlining operations.
Advanced Polymer Technologies
This segment focuses on caprolactone and caprolactone-based specialty polymers. These advanced materials are used in a variety of high-performance applications, including coatings, resins, elastomers, and adhesives. They also find use in bioplastics and even medical devices, showcasing their versatility. Ingevity is actively working to expand this business, aiming for higher growth and value in markets where material performance is a key differentiator.
What management is betting on now
Ingevity's current strategy involves balancing its established, cash-generating businesses with its higher-growth specialty platforms. Management is focused on defending its strong positions in emissions control and industrial carbon markets while simultaneously expanding its Advanced Polymer Technologies segment. Key priorities include improving operational efficiency, maintaining pricing discipline, and carefully managing its financial resources, with a strong emphasis on controlling debt and allocating capital strategically. The company is also actively reviewing its portfolio, exploring strategic options for certain segments to better align with its core competencies and focus on consistent, high-margin businesses with superior cash flow generation.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$10.40M
FY2024 Q4
$57.70M
FY2025 Q1
$15.40M
FY2025 Q2
$66.80M
FY2025 Q3
$105.60M
FY2025 Q4
$85.70M
FY2026 Q1
$-12.30M
FY2026 Q2
$-24.10M
Revenue
$314.10M
Net income
$35.30M
Diluted EPS
1.00
Operating cash flow
$-13.80M
Free cash flow
$-24.10M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$258.00M
Net income
$59.80M
Diluted EPS
1.66
Operating cash flow
$-2.00M
Free cash flow
$-12.30M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$185.40M
Net income
$-84.60M
Diluted EPS
-2.33
Operating cash flow
$97.10M
Free cash flow
$85.70M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$333.10M
Net income
$43.50M
Diluted EPS
1.18
Operating cash flow
$129.70M
Free cash flow
$105.60M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$365.10M
Net income
$-146.50M
Diluted EPS
-4.02
Operating cash flow
$79.00M
Free cash flow
$66.80M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$284.00M
Net income
$20.50M
Diluted EPS
0.56
Operating cash flow
$25.40M
Free cash flow
$15.40M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$298.80M
Net income
$16.60M
Diluted EPS
0.45
Operating cash flow
$64.50M
Free cash flow
$57.70M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$376.90M
Net income
$-107.20M
Diluted EPS
-2.95
Operating cash flow
$46.50M
Free cash flow
$10.40M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $135.38 vs current price $70.75
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $89.00 (-34.3% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $135.38 a share — about 91.4% above today's price of $70.75, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $1.1B. Interest coverage 3.4x.
Net debt
$1.14B
Interest coverage
3.40x
Ingevity Corporation's profit covers its interest bill about 3.4 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
NGVT
BASELINE
Ingevity Corporation
Total debt $1.24B Interest coverage 3.40x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $47.90M Interest coverage 142.09x +4,083% vs NGVT Carries about 41.8x more debt cushion than NGVT.
Total debt $923.81M Interest coverage 4.02x +18% vs NGVT Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than NGVT.
Total debt $2.19B Interest coverage 2.83x -17% vs NGVT Carries about 1.2x less debt cushion than NGVT.
Total debt $964.90M Interest coverage 5.27x +55% vs NGVT Carries about 1.6x more debt cushion than NGVT.
Total debt $707.35M Interest coverage 2.65x -22% vs NGVT Carries about 1.3x less debt cushion than NGVT.
What you should know
The case for and against NGVT
2 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Returns 30.1% on equity, ahead of 83% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Stock trades 700.6% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.8% (peer median: 1.3%).
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)
102.54x
Forward P/E
11.77x
P/B
52.02x
P/S
2.10x
EV/EBITDA
9.48x
PEG ratio
2.41x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
41.1%
Operating margin
29.9%
Net margin
4.7%
ROE
30.1%
ROA
10.4%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
26.36x
Current ratio
1.61x
Quick ratio
0.78x
Total debt
$1.24B
Total cash
$97.40M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$1.09B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-4.3%
EPS TTM
0.69
EPS 5Y CAGR
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Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$211.00M
Free CF TTM
$273.50M
FCF margin
25.1%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
0.0%
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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