Cabot (CBT) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $3.54B
• Dividend Yield: 2.72%
• Average Volume (3M): 471.29K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 12.0
• Beta (1Y): 0.90
• Revenue Growth: -7.04%
• EPS Growth: -11.28%
• Country: US
• Employees: 4,151
• Sector: Basic Materials
• Sector Strength: 58
• Industry: Chemicals - Specialty
• EPS (TTM): 1.53
• Shares Outstanding: 52,221,603
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 721,547
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 471,289
• PEG Ratio: -1.16
• Price to Book (P/B): 2.63
• Price to Sales (P/S): 1.10
• P/FCF Ratio: 10.44
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.26
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 1.23
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 4.86
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 5.76
• 1Y Price Target: $78.67
• Price Target Upside: 16.00% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 3
• EPS Forecast (FY): 6.26
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $3.54B

• Rating: 70 Outperform
• Price Target: $76.00 ▲(12.06% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/18/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/18/26

CBT scores well on financial strength (solid margins, strong cash flow, and improved leverage) and has supportive valuation (low P/E with a meaningful dividend). The main constraint is weak technical momentum (below key moving averages with negative MACD), while the latest earnings call adds a mixed outlook: strong capital discipline and growth in Battery Materials, but significant near-term weakness in Reinforcement Materials.

Positive Factors

Strong cash generation and FCF

Sustained operating cash flow and meaningful free cash flow give the company durable flexibility to fund strategic investments, sustain dividends and repurchases, and absorb cyclical downturns. This cash profile supports long-term capital allocation and de‑risking initiatives over the next 2–6 months and beyond.

Markedly improved balance sheet leverage

Significantly lower leverage reduces refinancing and solvency risk, increases financial flexibility for targeted M&A or growth capex, and supports ongoing buybacks/dividends. A stronger balance sheet is a durable advantage when cyclical demand or commodity cost swings recur.

High-growth Battery Materials franchise and strategic supply deal

Rapidly scaling, higher‑margin Battery Materials diversifies revenue away from cyclical tires and offers structural growth tied to EV gigafactory buildouts. The multiyear PowerCo agreement provides durable demand visibility and supports sustained margin expansion and investment returns over the medium term.

Negative Factors

Reinforcement Materials earnings pressure

The core reinforcement business is facing material, not transitory, margin erosion from weaker volumes and lower realized prices. Given its sizable share of sales, sustained weakness here can constrain consolidated earnings and cash flow while management executes capacity and cost rationalization.

Top-line weakness and negative revenue trend

A continuing down or flat revenue trajectory limits operating leverage and makes margin recovery harder, increasing reliance on cost cuts and portfolio growth. Persistent top‑line softness constrains sustainable EPS growth over a multi‑quarter horizon absent accelerated demand or new product adoption.

Structural market risks from imports and demand shifts

Ongoing trade flows and weaker replacement cycles create durable headwinds for regional demand and pricing in reinforcement markets. These external structural pressures can necessitate capacity rationalization, depress utilization and increase volatility in volumes and working-capital needs across reporting periods.

Cabot Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Cabot Corporation operates as a specialty chemicals and performance materials company. It operates through three segments: Reinforcement Materials, Performance Chemicals, and Purification Solutions. The company offers reinforcing carbons used in tires as a rubber reinforcing agent and performance additive, as well as in industrial products, such as hoses, belts, extruded profiles, and molded goods; and engineered elastomer composites. It also provides specialty carbons used in inks, coatings, plastics, adhesives, toners, batteries, and displays applications; masterbatch and conductive compound products for use in automotive, industrial, packaging, infrastructure, agriculture, consumer products, and electronics industries; inkjet colorants used in the inkjet printing applications; fumed silica used in adhesives, sealants, cosmetics, batteries, inks, toners, silicone elastomers, coatings, polishing slurries, and pharmaceuticals; fumed alumina used in various products, including inkjet media, lighting, coatings, cosmetics, and polishing slurries; and aerogel, a hydrophobic, silica-based particle for use in various thermal insulation and specialty chemical applications. In addition, the company offers activated carbon products used for the purification of water, air, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, and other liquids and gases; and activated carbon solutions for activated carbon injection in coal-fired utilities, mobile water filter units, and carbon reactivation services. The company sells its products through distributors and sales representatives in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Cabot Corporation was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

How the Company Makes Money

Cabot makes money primarily by manufacturing and selling carbon-based materials and additives to industrial customers under negotiated supply arrangements. The company’s key revenue streams generally fall into (1) Reinforcement Materials and (2) Performance Chemicals. In Reinforcement Materials, Cabot supplies carbon black used as a reinforcing filler in tire rubber and other mechanical rubber goods; revenue is driven by shipment volumes to tire manufacturers and rubber goods producers and by pricing that reflects product grade, regional supply-demand, and, in many customer contracts, pass-through mechanisms linked to feedstock or energy costs. In Performance Chemicals, Cabot sells higher-value specialty carbons and conductive additives used to deliver properties such as conductivity, color, UV protection, durability, and dispersibility in plastics, coatings, inks/toners, and other formulations; revenue is driven by specialty product mix, qualification/adoption in customer formulations, and pricing for performance attributes. Across both segments, earnings are influenced by raw material and energy costs (and the extent to which these are recovered through contract structures), manufacturing utilization and efficiency, logistics costs, and demand in end markets such as automotive tires, industrial production, and construction-related coatings. Specific significant partnerships: null.

Cabot Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Fundamentals are solid: profitability remains healthy (TTM net margin ~8.6%, EBIT margin ~13.3%) and cash generation is strong (TTM OCF $667M; FCF $401M; FCF growth +2.6%). Balance sheet risk is reduced with much lower leverage (TTM debt-to-equity ~0.17) and attractive ROE (~22.5%). Offsets are a soft recent revenue trend (TTM -2.9%) and some historical variability in cash conversion.

Income Statement

TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months) revenue is slightly down (-2.9%), extending a flattish-to-down top-line trend after modest growth in 2024 and declines in 2023. Profitability remains solid for the group, with TTM net margin at ~8.6% and EBIT margin at ~13.3%, though margins are below the prior annual period (2025 annual net margin ~8.9% and higher EBIT/EBITDA margins). Net income has also stepped down from the 2023–2024 peak, indicating some normalization in earnings power despite still-healthy operating performance.

Balance Sheet

Leverage shows meaningful improvement: TTM debt-to-equity is low (~0.17) versus elevated levels in prior annual periods (roughly ~0.73 to ~1.61 historically), suggesting a stronger capital structure and reduced financial risk. Equity has grown versus earlier years, and returns on equity remain attractive (TTM ~22.5%), albeit below the very strong 2023–2024 levels. Overall balance sheet quality looks improved, with the main watch item being the variability versus prior reporting periods.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is a strength: TTM operating cash flow is $667M and free cash flow is $401M with positive TTM free-cash-flow growth (+2.6%). Free cash flow is a meaningful portion of earnings (TTM free cash flow to net income ~0.59), indicating decent earnings quality. However, cash conversion is not consistently strong across years (notably weak in 2022 with negative free cash flow), and operating cash flow remains below revenue in scale, pointing to some cyclicality/working-capital sensitivity.

Breakdown	TTM	Sep 2025	Sep 2024	Sep 2023	Sep 2022	Sep 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	3.61B	3.71B	3.99B	3.93B	4.32B	3.41B
Gross Profit	916.00M	940.00M	960.00M	839.00M	885.00M	799.00M
EBITDA	773.00M	794.00M	761.00M	685.00M	537.00M	615.00M
Net Income	311.00M	331.00M	380.00M	445.00M	209.00M	250.00M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	3.76B	3.81B	3.74B	3.60B	3.52B	3.31B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	230.00M	258.00M	223.00M	238.00M	206.00M	168.00M
Total Debt	1.13B	1.22B	1.33B	1.36B	1.53B	1.25B
Total Liabilities	2.03B	2.11B	2.15B	2.20B	2.49B	2.22B
Stockholders Equity	1.57B	1.55B	1.43B	1.26B	898.00M	947.00M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	401.00M	391.00M	451.00M	351.00M	-111.00M	62.00M
Operating Cash Flow	667.00M	665.00M	692.00M	595.00M	100.00M	257.00M
Investing Cash Flow	-263.00M	-298.00M	-235.00M	-214.00M	-118.00M	-186.00M
Financing Cash Flow	-404.00M	-336.00M	-415.00M	-403.00M	145.00M	-60.00M

Cabot Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 67.82
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For CBT, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 67.82 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 71.63, below the 50-day MA of 72.52, and below the 200-day MA of 71.78, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -1.46 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 36.59 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 33.21 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for CBT.

Cabot Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
CBT	70 Outperform	$3.54B	11.96	20.42%	2.72%	-7.04%	-11.28%
SXT	65 Neutral	$3.53B	29.50	11.63%	1.70%	4.25%	56.51%
FUL	63 Neutral	$2.69B	20.94	7.98%	1.54%	-1.30%	-36.69%
SSL	62 Neutral	$7.90B	76.21	1.59%	―	-6.73%	―
Sector *	61 Neutral	$10.43B	7.12	-0.05%	2.87%	2.86%	-36.73%
AVNT	59 Neutral	$2.92B	34.90	3.48%	3.48%	1.03%	-24.57%
PRM	50 Neutral	$3.09B	-7.30	-17.79%	―	19.12%	―

Cabot Corporate Events

Cabot Shareholders Back Board Nominees and Governance Measures

On March 12, 2026, Cabot held its annual meeting of stockholders, at which shareholders elected all of the board’s nominees—Sean D. Keohane, Raffiq Nathoo, and Thierry Vanlancker—to the director class whose terms will expire in 2029, while the terms of six other incumbent directors continued unchanged. The meeting also saw strong advisory approval of compensation for the company’s named executive officers and ratified Deloitte & Touche LLP as Cabot’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, signaling broad shareholder support for current governance, pay practices, and audit oversight.

The most recent analyst rating on (CBT) stock is a Buy with a $77.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Cabot stock, see the CBT Stock Forecast page.

Cabot Rebalances Classified Board Ahead of 2026 Meeting

Cabot Corporation, a publicly traded company, announced changes to its board structure affecting its 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The terms of directors Juan Enriquez and William C. Kirby will expire at the 2026 meeting, and the board has nominated current director Thierry Vanlancker—whose term had been set to run to 2028—for election at that 2026 meeting with a new term extending to 2029; to enable this, Vanlancker submitted a conditional resignation on January 8, 2026, effective immediately before the 2026 meeting and contingent on his reappointment, a procedural move intended solely to rebalance the board into three classes of roughly equal size, which may enhance governance structure and board continuity for shareholders.

The most recent analyst rating on (CBT) stock is a Buy with a $79.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Cabot stock, see the CBT Stock Forecast page.