IFF vs. ECL, RPM, ALB, CE, BCPC, NEU, SXT, FUL, ASH, and IOSP
Should you be buying International Flavors & Fragrances stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of International Flavors & Fragrances include Ecolab (ECL), RPM International (RPM), Albemarle (ALB), Celanese (CE), Balchem (BCPC), NewMarket (NEU), Sensient Technologies (SXT), H.B. Fuller (FUL), Ashland (ASH), and Innospec (IOSP). These companies are all part of the "specialty chemicals" industry.
International Flavors & Fragrances vs.
International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE:IFF) and Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, community ranking, valuation, earnings and risk.
Ecolab has higher revenue and earnings than International Flavors & Fragrances. Ecolab is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than International Flavors & Fragrances, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
International Flavors & Fragrances has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ecolab has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.
96.0% of International Flavors & Fragrances shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.9% of Ecolab shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of International Flavors & Fragrances shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Ecolab shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Ecolab has a net margin of 13.42% compared to International Flavors & Fragrances' net margin of 2.12%. Ecolab's return on equity of 22.50% beat International Flavors & Fragrances' return on equity.
International Flavors & Fragrances pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Ecolab pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. International Flavors & Fragrances pays out 170.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ecolab pays out 35.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ecolab has raised its dividend for 33 consecutive years.
International Flavors & Fragrances presently has a consensus price target of $103.77, indicating a potential upside of 34.94%. Ecolab has a consensus price target of $286.88, indicating a potential upside of 14.16%. Given International Flavors & Fragrances' higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe International Flavors & Fragrances is more favorable than Ecolab.
In the previous week, Ecolab had 23 more articles in the media than International Flavors & Fragrances. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Ecolab and 20 mentions for International Flavors & Fragrances. Ecolab's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat International Flavors & Fragrances' score of 1.12 indicating that Ecolab is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Ecolab received 265 more outperform votes than International Flavors & Fragrances when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.94% of users gave Ecolab an outperform vote while only 60.36% of users gave International Flavors & Fragrances an outperform vote.
Summary
Ecolab beats International Flavors & Fragrances on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NYSE:IFF) was last updated on 3/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
