IMCD N.V. (IMCD) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: €4.14B
• Dividend Yield: 2.83%
• Average Volume (3M): 255.76K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 21.0
• Beta (1Y): 0.98
• Revenue Growth: 6.09%
• EPS Growth: -7.18%
• Country: NL
• Employees: 5,126
• Sector: Basic Materials
• Sector Strength: 58
• Industry: Chemicals - Specialty
• EPS (TTM): 1.76
• Shares Outstanding: 59,107,998
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 216,740
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 255,764
• PEG Ratio: -0.86
• Price to Book (P/B): 2.24
• Price to Sales (P/S): 0.96
• P/FCF Ratio: 14.77
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: N/A
• 1Y Price Target: €96.17
• Price Target Upside: 37.19% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 6
• EPS Forecast (FY): 5.37
• Revenue Forecast (FY): €5.01B

• Rating: 64 Neutral
• Price Target: €75.00 ▲(6.99% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 02/20/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 02/20/26

The score is primarily driven by fundamentally solid but recently pressured financial performance: cash flow quality is strong, but 2025 shows clear margin deterioration and slightly weaker revenue, alongside higher leverage. Technicals are improving in the short-to-medium term but remain below the 200-day trend, and valuation looks only fair at ~23x earnings with a moderate dividend yield.

Positive Factors

Diversified, value-added distribution model

IMCD's core model—local market teams plus technical/application support across pharma, food, personal care, coatings and industrial markets—creates durable customer stickiness and recurring revenue. This diversification and advisory role supports steady demand, cross-selling and resilience across cycles over the next several months.

Strong free cash flow conversion

Consistent one-to-one free cash flow versus net income indicates high earnings quality and cash conversion. Durable cash generation supports reinvestment, working-capital funding, dividends and debt servicing, providing financial flexibility to execute strategy or absorb short-term margin pressure over the medium term.

Long-term supplier partnerships and technical services

Established supplier authorizations and value-added formulation support give IMCD preferential access to differentiated products and protect distributorship economics. These durable partnerships enable pricing leverage, product exclusivity in markets, and cross-market rollout, supporting sustainable gross-profit potential and customer retention.

Negative Factors

2025 margin compression

A material step-down in gross and operating margins in 2025 signals structural pressure on distribution economics—whether from pricing, input-cost passthrough, or mix shifts. Persistently lower margins would erode cash flow and reinvestment capacity, making earnings and ROE recovery harder over the medium term.

Rising leverage limits flexibility

Debt-to-equity rising into the high 0.7–0.8x range reduces financial headroom for M&A, capital expenditures or margin-supporting actions. Higher leverage increases interest sensitivity and lowers resilience to further sales or margin shocks, constraining strategic optionality across the next several quarters.

Declining return on equity

A downward ROE trend reflects weakening capital efficiency, likely from margin compression and slower profit growth. If ROE erosion continues, it signals persistent operational or mix weaknesses that weigh on long-term shareholder returns and raises questions about capital allocation effectiveness over the medium term.

IMCD N.V. Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

IMCD N.V. distributes, markets, and sells specialty chemicals and ingredients in the Netherlands, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, South America, and the Asia-Pacific. The company offers enzymes, surfactants, biocides, chelates, rheology modifiers, solubilisers, silicones, solvents, and functional additives; active pharmaceutical, agrochemicals, biopharma, excipients and formulation, nutraceuticals, and regulated synthesis; actives, UV sunscreens, rheology modifiers, thickeners, emulsifiers, emollients, elastomers, humectants, waxes, film formers, functional powders, hair styling polymers, hair conditioners, solvents, solubilizers, pigments, pearls, colorants, opacifiers, pearlisers, preservatives, antioxidants, additives, fragrances, and essential oils; and resins and binders, additives, functional fillers, and specialty solvents. It also provides taste, texture, nutrition, and function; base oil, fuel addictive, lubricants addictive, lubricants finished fluids, solvents, degreasers and fuel, compounds, and upstream, midstream and downstream oil, gas and energy; bio-based chemicals, catalysts, intermediates, monomers, organic building blocks, processing aids, reactive diluents, solvents, and surfactants. IMCD N.V. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

How the Company Makes Money

IMCD makes money primarily by distributing specialty chemicals and ingredients on behalf of producers and selling them to manufacturers across multiple end markets. Its core revenue model is based on earning a gross profit margin (the difference between purchase price paid to producer partners and the selling price to customers) on product volumes it sells, reflecting the value it adds through market access, logistics, regulatory support, and technical/application know-how. Key revenue streams include: - Product distribution sales: The largest source of revenue comes from reselling specialty chemicals and ingredients. IMCD typically purchases materials from producers (or in some cases sells on an agency/commission basis depending on the arrangement) and sells them to customers in smaller quantities, with just-in-time delivery and local availability. - Value-added services tied to sales: IMCD supports customers with formulation advice, application development, and technical problem-solving (e.g., helping optimize recipes, performance, or compliance), which strengthens customer relationships and supports pricing/margins on the distributed product basket. - Supplier/producer partner relationships: IMCD’s earnings are supported by long-term partnerships with specialty chemical and ingredient producers that appoint IMCD as a distributor in specific regions or end markets. These relationships can provide access to differentiated products and, where applicable, compensation structures such as distribution margins and/or commissions; specific partner terms vary by contract. Factors that contribute significantly to earnings include the breadth and differentiation of its product portfolio, the strength of its supplier authorizations/agreements in each geography, its ability to cross-sell across end markets, and operational execution in logistics, inventory management, and working-capital control. null

IMCD N.V. Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Income statement is pressured by a 2025 revenue dip and sharp margin compression versus 2024, while cash flow remains a strength with consistently strong free-cash-flow conversion and a 2025 rebound. Balance sheet flexibility is reduced as leverage has risen into the ~0.7–0.8x debt-to-equity range and ROE has trended down.

Income Statement

Revenue expanded strongly from 2020–2024, but 2025 shows a modest top-line decline and a sharp step-down in profitability versus 2024 (gross margin down materially, with operating and net margins also lower). Despite the softer 2025, the business still posts healthy operating profitability for the period, suggesting resilience, but recent margin compression and the near-term revenue reversal weigh on the score.

Balance Sheet

Leverage has risen over time, with debt-to-equity moving from conservative levels in 2021 to the high-0.7x/0.8x range in 2024–2025, reducing balance-sheet flexibility. Equity remains sizable and return on equity is still positive, but it has trended down from earlier peak levels, indicating less efficient capital generation alongside higher leverage.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is a relative strength: free cash flow is consistently high versus net income (roughly near one-to-one across years), indicating good earnings quality. While operating cash flow relative to revenue is moderate and has fluctuated, free cash flow rebounded strongly in 2025 after a softer 2024, supporting a higher score for cash durability.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	4.78B	4.73B	4.44B	4.60B	3.44B
Gross Profit	471.80M	1.20B	1.12B	1.15B	836.32M
EBITDA	514.17M	589.14M	566.90M	574.63M	394.79M
Net Income	217.58M	278.24M	292.27M	313.08M	207.28M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	4.64B	4.88B	4.15B	3.64B	3.27B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	238.59M	522.78M	394.46M	222.00M	177.88M
Total Debt	1.70B	1.73B	1.28B	722.60M	409.63M
Total Liabilities	2.59B	2.66B	2.43B	1.97B	1.81B
Stockholders Equity	2.04B	2.21B	1.72B	1.67B	1.46B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	309.24M	252.76M	382.54M	277.58M	177.55M
Operating Cash Flow	322.28M	279.21M	420.01M	298.84M	196.26M
Investing Cash Flow	-455.74M	-387.95M	-394.59M	-255.36M	-196.13M
Financing Cash Flow	-117.39M	247.06M	216.97M	-20.00K	4.73M

IMCD N.V. Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 70.10
• 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 NL:IMCD, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 70.1 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 75.52, below the 50-day MA of 79.52, and below the 200-day MA of 89.92, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -2.65 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 36.39 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 41.86 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for NL:IMCD.

IMCD N.V. Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
IMCD	64 Neutral	€4.14B	20.99	10.83%	2.83%	6.09%	-7.18%
LIGHT	64 Neutral	€2.12B	10.16	11.48%	7.57%	-4.73%	17.93%
AKZA	63 Neutral	€8.09B	4.23	14.61%	3.38%	-2.03%	-89.67%
Sector *	61 Neutral	$10.43B	7.12	-0.05%	2.87%	2.86%	-36.73%
CRBN	59 Neutral	€1.04B	14.40	8.84%	3.50%	-3.45%	-5.55%
OCI	47 Neutral	€651.78M	2.88	―	229.25%	―	―
AVTX	41 Neutral	€162.56M	-3.01	-26.08%	―	-12.31%	23.77%