One-glance verdict
Undervalued
$80.50 our estimate vs market $62.02
Wall Street consensus: $74.07 (-8.0% lower than our fair-value estimate)
23% below our estimate, below the bear case
Fundamentals snapshot
Unilever PLC
UL · NYQ · Consumer Defensive · Household & Personal Products
Current price
$62.02
52-week range
$54.75 - $74.98
Market cap
$133.55B
Balance sheet
Stretched
9.22x Adequate
Net debt $30.36B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Returns 31.9% on equity, ahead of 50% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
- Risk Stock trades 10.7% above its 5-year average P/E.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.1%).
What this company does
Unilever PLC
Unilever is the company behind many household brands you likely use, such as Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise, and Cif cleaning products. It makes money by selling these everyday necessities to billions of people worldwide, which can generate very consistent revenue (the total money a company brings in from sales) because customers need to repurchase these items regularly.
How the company got here
Unilever was formed in 1929 by the merger of a Dutch margarine producer and a British soap maker. This combination of food and cleaning products set the stage for its future growth. Over many decades, the company expanded by acquiring other brands and inventing new products, like Sunsilk shampoo and Dove soap. A key turning point was a major restructuring in the 1990s to create a more unified global strategy. More recently, the company has focused on simplifying its business, for instance by separating its ice cream division, to concentrate on its most promising areas.
What it actually does
Unilever makes and sells a huge variety of everyday items that you likely have in your home right now. Think of the soap in your shower, the deodorant you use, the laundry detergent for your clothes, and even the mayonnaise in your refrigerator. The company owns many well-known brand names like Dove, Axe, Hellmann's, and Lipton. Essentially, they create products that people use and buy over and over again for personal hygiene, cleaning their homes, and for meals.
Beauty & Wellbeing
This part of the company focuses on products that help you care for your hair and skin. It includes everyday items like shampoos and conditioners from brands such as Sunsilk and TRESemmé, as well as skin moisturizers from Vaseline and Pond's. It also includes more high-end, premium beauty products and vitamins or supplements. This segment is a significant part of Unilever's business and a major focus for future growth.
Personal Care
This is Unilever's largest business segment and includes many iconic hygiene products. It's where you'll find Dove and Lux soaps, Axe and Rexona deodorants, and oral care items like Close-Up toothpaste. These are the absolute essentials for daily grooming that people purchase regularly. This segment makes money by selling these trusted, high-frequency purchase items in stores all over the world.
Home Care
This division is all about keeping your house and clothes clean. It produces laundry detergents like OMO and Surf, as well as fabric conditioners and other household cleaners like Cif and Domestos. People buy these products to manage their daily household chores. This segment is a steady and large contributor to Unilever's overall sales.
Foods
This segment covers the food products you'd find in your pantry. It includes well-known condiments like Hellmann's mayonnaise, cooking ingredients like Knorr bouillon cubes and seasonings, and soups. It also has a division called Unilever Food Solutions, which sells ingredients and prepared items in larger quantities to restaurants and chefs. While still a very large business, the company has been selling off some smaller food brands to focus more on its beauty and personal care lines.
What management is betting on now
The company's leadership is focused on a 'Growth Action Plan' which aims for faster growth and better performance. A key part of this strategy is to invest more in their 'power brands'—the most popular and profitable names they own—especially in the Beauty and Personal Care areas. They are also concentrating on the United States and India as their most important markets for growth. Finally, Unilever is heavily investing in technology, using things like artificial intelligence (AI) to improve everything from marketing to its supply chain (the entire process of making and delivering products to stores).
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $80.50 vs current price $62.02
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $74.07 (-8.0% lower than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $80.50 a share — about 29.8% above today's price of $62.02, so the stock currently looks cheap (undervalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $30.4B. Interest coverage 9.2x.
Net debt
$30.36B
Interest coverage
9.22x
Unilever PLC's profit covers its interest bill about 9.2 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
UL
BASELINE
Unilever PLC
Total debt $37.25B Interest coverage 9.22x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $35.02B Interest coverage 22.52x +144% vs UL Carries about 2.4x more debt cushion than UL.
Total debt $7.86B Interest coverage 15.85x +72% vs UL Carries about 1.7x more debt cushion than UL.
Total debt $6.54B Interest coverage 9.18x -0% vs UL Has roughly the same debt cushion as UL.
Total debt $2.43B Interest coverage 11.32x +23% vs UL Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than UL.
Total debt $8.61B Interest coverage 6.31x -32% vs UL Carries about 1.5x less debt cushion than UL.
What you should know
The case for and against UL
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Returns 31.9% on equity, ahead of 50% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
-
Trades at 21.0x P/E vs peer median 21.9x (4.5% cheaper).
Risks
-
Stock trades 10.7% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.1%).
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)
20.95x
Forward P/E
15.68x
P/B
7.08x
P/S
2.64x
EV/EBITDA
14.80x
PEG ratio
10.56x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
47.1%
Operating margin
20.3%
Net margin
18.3%
ROE
31.9%
ROA
8.3%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.75x
Current ratio
0.74x
Quick ratio
0.57x
Total debt
$37.25B
Total cash
$6.90B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$58.73B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
-5.6%
EPS TTM
2.96
EPS 5Y CAGR
8.7%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$9.69B
Free CF TTM
$7.84B
FCF margin
13.4%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
3.4%
Payout ratio
76.5%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-07