Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 4 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Chemicals industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Why Focus on Undervalued Chemicals Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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4 Undervalued Chemicals Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 4 undervalued stocks in the Chemicals industry for Tuesday, March 17, 2026. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Chemicals industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., through its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and distributes high-performance coatings systems in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Mobility Coatings. It also offers water and solvent-borne products and systems to repair damaged vehicles for independent body shops, multi-shop operators, and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) dealership body shops. In addition, the company provides functional and decorative liquid, and powder coatings for building materials, cabinet, wood and luxury vinyl flooring, and furniture applications under the Imron Industrial, Tufcote Industrial, Corlar Industrial, Strenex Industrial, PercoTop, Voltatex, AquaEC, Durapon, Hydropon, UNRIVALED, Ceranamel, Alesta, Teodur, Nap-Gard, Abcite, and Plascoat brands. Further, it develops and supplies electrocoat, primer, the basecoat, and clearcoat products for OEMs of light and commercial vehicles; and coatings systems for various commercial applications, including HDT, MDT, bus, rail, motorcycles, marine and aviation, trailers, recreational vehicles, and personal sport vehicles under the Imron, Imron Elite, Centari, Rival, Corlar epoxy undercoats, and AquaEC brands. The company also offers products under the Audurra, Abcite, Alesta, AquaEC, Axalta Irus Mix, Axalta Irus Scan, Axalta NextJet, Axalta Nimbus, Centari, Ceranamel, Challenger, Chemophan, ColorNet, Cromax, Cromax Mosaic, Durapon 70, Duxone, Harmonized Coating Technologies, Hydropon, Imron ExcelPro, Imron Elite, Imron, Lutophen, Nap-Gard, Nason, Spies Hecker, Standox, Stollaquid, Syntopal, Syrox, Raptor, Rival, U-POL, and Vermeera brands. The company was formerly known as Axalta Coating Systems Bermuda Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. in August 2014. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. has a Value Score of 63, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s price-to-sales ratio at 1.18 compared to the industry median at 1.05, this company has a higher price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s stock less attractive for value investors.

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s price-earnings ratio is 16.10 compared to the industry median at 24.90. This means it has a lower share price relative to earnings compared to its peers. This could make Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. more attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 11.5, when compared to the industry median of 10.9, the company may be considered overvalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 1.85%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its industry median ratio of 1.48. This could make Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. less attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 30.50. This could make Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. more attractive because the lower P/FCF ratio indicates that Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.

Cabot Corporation’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Cabot Corporation operates as a specialty chemicals and performance materials company. It operates through two segments, Reinforcement Materials and Performance Chemicals. The company offers reinforcing carbons that are 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 solutions. It also provides specialty carbons for use in inks, coatings, plastics, adhesives, toners, batteries, and displays; conductive additives and fumed alumina used in lead acid and lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles; fumed silica used in adhesives, sealants, cosmetics, batteries, inks, toners, silicone elastomers, coatings, polishing slurries, and pharmaceuticals; and fumed alumina for use in various products, including inkjet media, lighting, coatings, cosmetics, and polishing slurries. In addition, it offers aerogel, a hydrophobic, silica-based particle to use in various thermal insulation and specialty chemical applications; masterbatch and conductive compound products that are used in automotive, industrial, packaging, infrastructure, agriculture, consumer products, and electronics industries; and inkjet colorants for inkjet printing applications, as well as carbon nanotubes and fumed metal oxides. 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.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Cabot Corporation has a Value Score of 83, which is considered to be undervalued.

Cabot Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 12.0 compared to the industry median at 24.9. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Cabot Corporation more attractive for value investors.

Cabot Corporation’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Cabot Corporation more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.48.

You can read more about Cabot Corporation’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Celanese Corporation’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Celanese Corporation produces and sells engineered polymers worldwide. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain segments. The company offers ethylene acrylic elastomers, ethylene vinyl acetate pharmaceutical grade copolymers, liquid crystal polymers, long-fiber reinforced thermoplastics, nylon and polypropylene compounds and formulations, polyoxymethylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, and thermoplastic elastomers, polyesters, and vulcanizates for use in appliance, automotive, construction, consumer apparel, consumer electronics, electrical, energy storage, filtration equipment, industrial, medical, and telecommunication applications. It also provides acetic acid and anhydride, acetate flakes and tows, butyl acetates, emulsion polymers, ethyl acetates, ethylene vinyl acetate resins and compounds, formaldehydes, redispersible powders, and vinyl acetate monomers for use in adhesives, automotive parts, coatings, consumer goods, external thermal insulation composite systems, films, filtration, flexible packaging, food and beverage, food packaging, inks, lamination, lubricants, paints, paper finishing, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, plasters and renders, solvents, textiles, and tiling applications. The company offers its products under the Amcel, AOPlus, Ateva, Avicor, Celanese, Celanex, Celanyl, Celcon, Celstran, Celvolit, Clarifoil, Crastin, Dur-O-Set, Dytron, ECOMID, EcoVAE, Elotex, Factor, Flexbond, Forprene, FRIANYL, Fortron, Geolast, GHR, GUR, Hostaform, Hytrel, Laprene, Melinex, MetaLX, Mowilith, MT, Mylar, NILAMID, Nylfor, OmniLon, Pibifor, Pibiter, Polifor, Resyn, Rynite, Santoprene, SlideX, Sofprene, Sofpur, Talcoprene, Tarnoform, Tecnoprene, TufCOR, Tynex, Vamac, VAntage, Vectra, Vinac, Vinamul, VitalDose, Zenite, and Zytel brands. It sells its products directly to customers and through distributors; and original equipment manufacturers and suppliers. Celanese Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Celanese Corporation has a Value Score of 66, which is considered to be undervalued.

Celanese Corporation’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Celanese Corporation fairly attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.48.

You can read more about Celanese Corporation’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Stepan Company’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Stepan Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells specialty and intermediate chemicals to other manufacturers for use in various end products in the United States, France, Poland, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. The Surfactants segment offers surfactants that are used in consumer and industrial cleaning and disinfection products, including detergents for washing clothes, dishes, carpets, and floors and walls, as well as shampoos and body washes; and other applications, such as fabric softeners, germicidal quaternary compounds, disinfectants, lubricating ingredients; emulsifiers for spreading agricultural products; and industrial applications comprising latex systems, plastics, and composites. The Polymers segment provides polyurethane polyols that are used in the manufacture of rigid foam for thermal insulation in the construction industry, as well as a base raw material for coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomers (CASE); polyester resins used in coating applications; specialty polyols, such as CASE and powdered polyester resins; and phthalic anhydride that is used in unsaturated polyester resins, alkyd resins, and plasticizers for applications in construction materials, as well as components of automotive, boating, and other consumer products. The Specialty Products segment offers flavors, emulsifiers, and solubilizers for use in food, flavoring, nutritional supplement, and pharmaceutical applications. Stepan Company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Stepan Company has a Value Score of 83, which is considered to be undervalued.

Stepan Company’s price-earnings ratio is 22.9 compared to the industry median at 24.9. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Stepan Company more attractive for value investors.

Stepan Company’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Stepan Company less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.48.

You can read more about Stepan Company’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Other Chemicals Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Chemicals stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 4 Best Chemicals Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

• Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Cabot Corporation stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Celanese Corporation stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Stepan Company stock has a Value Grade of A.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 4 undervalued stocks in the Chemicals industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Additional Resources About Chemicals Stocks

Want to learn more about Chemicals stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

• 4 Undervalued Chemicals Stocks for Tuesday, March 17
• Is Linde plc (LIN) Overvalued?
• 7 Undervalued Chemicals Stocks for Monday, March 16
• Is Linde plc (LIN) Overvalued?

AAII Disclaimer

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