ESI vs RYAM vs SLVM Stock Comparison

Element Solutions, Rayonier Advanced Materials and Sylvamo Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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ESI Element Solutions Inc
$35.02 -1.9% 1M +32.3% 1Y
Market cap
$8.58B
P/E
41.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.49B
Div. yield
–
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
6 wins
SLVM Sylvamo Corp
$32.44 -9.8% 1M -25.2% 1Y
Market cap
$1.28B
P/E
16.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.30B
Div. yield
–
Pulp and Paper Basic Materials
5 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Element Solutions leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Element Solutions 6, Sylvamo 5). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionESIRYAMSLVMLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $8.58B $450.29M $1.28B ESI
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 41.8x -3.2x 16.9x SLVM
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 20.4x — 26.6x ESI
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +39.6% -3.3% -7.1% ESI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 5.9% -9.5% 2.3% ESI
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 5.4% -4.7% 7.4% SLVM
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 3.2x 8.4x 1.9x SLVM
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +32.3% -7.6% -25.2% ESI
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +9.1%/yr -1.4%/yr +3.1%/yr ESI
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 46.9% 68.1% 38.4% SLVM
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 51/100 22/100 57/100 SLVM

Percentile Scorecard

ESIRYAMSLVM

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisESIRYAMSLVM
Valuation 39 #58 of 94 42 #55 of 94 88 #35 of 287
Growth 77 #22 of 91 9 #83 of 91 11 #237 of 266
Profitability 61 #34 of 86 27 #63 of 86 64 #86 of 236
Financial Health 48 #50 of 95 11 #85 of 95 27 #211 of 288
Shareholder Returns 30 #49 of 70 – 97 #8 of 203
Overall 51 22 57
  • ESI ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • RYAM ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • SLVM ranked among 308 companies in Basic Materials

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodESIRYAMSLVMSPY
1 month -1.9%-22.5%-9.8% -0.2%
3 months -4.1%-24.2%-16.7% +3.9%
6 months -9.7%-32.8%-25.5% +8.2%
Year to date +40.1%+12.9%-32.6% +12.9%
1 year +32.3%-7.6%-25.2% +12.3%
3 years +94.6%+141.8%-25.4% +87.4%
3 years, per year +24.9%+34.3%-9.3% +23.3%
5 years +54.3%-6.7%+16.5% +67.9%
5 years, per year +9.1%-1.4%+3.1% +10.9%
10 years +365.1%-49.8%— +261.1%
10 years, per year +16.6%-6.7%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureESIRYAMSLVMSPY
Volatility, 1Y 46.9%68.1%38.4% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 47.4%56.3%35.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 2.181.800.62 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.69-0.11-0.66 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -40.3%-71.6%-67.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -28.7%-43.4%-40.7% -1.2%
52-week high $49.09$11.75$54.74 $779.14
52-week low $22.99$5.52$31.19 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleESIRYAMSLVM
P/E now vs peer median 41.6xmedian 22.0x -3.2xmedian 22.0x 17.0xmedian 18.1x
P/S now vs peer median 2.4xmedian 1.4x 0.3xmedian 1.4x 0.4xmedian 1.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.9xmedian 12.4x 13.6xmedian 12.4x 4.9xmedian 9.8x
P/FCF now vs peer median 46.5xmedian 15.1x -12.3xmedian 15.1x -117.4xmedian 15.5x
P/B now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 1.6x 2.3xmedian 1.6x 1.4xmedian 1.8x
PEG now vs peer median 0.75median 1.66 0.03median 1.66 -0.49median 0.76

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsESIRYAMSLVM
Revenue $3.49B $1.47B $3.30B
Gross profit $1.28B $86.44M $679.00M
Operating income $408.70M -$51.13M $261.00M
Net income $205.20M -$139.93M $76.00M
Free cash flow $182.90M -$36.56M -$11.00M
R&D $80.00M – –
EPS (diluted) $0.84 $-2.07 $1.91
Cash & equivalents $224.90M $57.01M $227.00M
Total debt $2.08B $774.77M $3.55B
Shares (diluted) 243.70M 67.51M 39.80M
Enterprise value $7.36B $172.92M $1.16B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricESIRYAMSLVM
P/E 41.6x -3.2x 17.0x
P/FCF 46.5x -12.3x -117.4x
P/Operating cash flow 30.0x 8.7x 6.2x
P/S 2.4x 0.3x 0.4x
P/B 2.9x 2.3x 1.4x
P/Tangible book 4.5x 2.4x 1.4x
EV/EBITDA 17.9x 13.6x 4.9x
EV/EBIT 25.3x -22.8x 8.2x
EV/Revenue 3.0x 0.8x 0.6x
EV/FCF 56.6x -31.9x -193.8x
EV/Operating cash flow 36.5x 22.7x 10.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.75 0.03 -0.49

Growth

14 metrics
MetricESIRYAMSLVM
Revenue growth (1Y) 39.6% -3.3% -7.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 14.4% -6.9% -4.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 21.5% -32.6% -16.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 11.7% -15.4% -12.8%
Operating income growth (1Y) 17.6% -130.1% -32.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 31.9% -43.1% -23.2%
Net income growth (1Y) -14.4% 68.5% -65.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 56.0% -113.6% -36.5%
EPS growth (1Y) -15.0% 68.8% -64.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 55.8% -111.7% -35.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -16.0% -55.0% -49.5%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -4.2% -35.2% -19.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -32.2% -241.2% -105.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -12.3% -34.6% -27.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricESIRYAMSLVM
Gross margin 36.6% 5.9% 20.6%
EBITDA margin 16.6% 5.9% 13.3%
Operating margin 11.7% -3.5% 7.9%
Pretax margin 9.0% -10.2% 4.3%
Net margin 5.9% -9.5% 2.3%
FCF margin 5.2% -2.5% -0.3%
Operating cash flow margin 8.1% 3.5% 6.3%
Return on equity 7.2% -65.8% 7.9%
Return on assets 3.5% -8.5% 2.7%
Return on invested capital 5.4% -4.7% 7.4%
Return on capital employed 7.8% -4.0% 12.4%
Asset turnover 0.6x 0.9x 1.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x -0.4x 2.8x
Stock comp / revenue 2.4% 0.3% 0.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricESIRYAMSLVM
Debt / assets 35.5% 47.8% 33.5%
Debt / equity 0.7x 4.0x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 3.2x 8.4x 1.9x
Debt / FCF 11.4x -21.2x -87.6x
Liabilities / assets 50.7% 88.0% 66.8%
Equity / assets 49.3% 12.0% 33.2%
Interest coverage – -0.5x –
Current ratio 2.8x 1.4x 1.5x
Quick ratio 1.7x 0.6x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 2.56 0.92 3.20

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricESIRYAMSLVM
Dividend yield 0.9% – 5.5%
Net buyback yield 0.5% – 3.3%
Shareholder yield 1.4% 0.0% 8.8%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusESIRYAMSLVM
Forward P/E 20.4xFY2026 – 26.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $1.72FY2026 $-1.18FY2026 $1.22FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +15.4%FY2026 – -65.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +33.7% – +323.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.86BFY2026 $1.40BFY2026 $3.41BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +51.4%FY2026 -4.6%FY2026 +1.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +2.3% +1.5% +0.8%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersESIRYAMSLVM
Held by institutions 100.0% 77.1% 99.6%
Institutions holding 499 188 335
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.6% -2.3% -0.4%
Institutions buying 269 98 162
Institutions selling 176 48 88
Buyers to sellers 1.53 2.04 1.84

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ESIRYAMSLVM
ESI 1.00 0.17 0.13
RYAM 0.17 1.00 0.16
SLVM 0.13 0.16 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ESI, RYAM and SLVM?

Element Solutions (ESI) is the largest by market capitalisation: Element Solutions (ESI) $8.58B, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) $450.29M, Sylvamo (SLVM) $1.28B.

Which stock is cheaper, ESI, RYAM and SLVM?

Sylvamo (SLVM) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Element Solutions (ESI) 41.8x, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) -3.2x, Sylvamo (SLVM) 16.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Element Solutions (ESI) is cheapest (Element Solutions (ESI) 20.4x, Sylvamo (SLVM) 26.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Element Solutions (ESI) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Element Solutions (ESI) +39.6%, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) -3.3%, Sylvamo (SLVM) -7.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Element Solutions (ESI) has the highest net margin (Element Solutions (ESI) 5.9%, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) -9.5%, Sylvamo (SLVM) 2.3%). On return on invested capital, Sylvamo (SLVM) leads (Element Solutions (ESI) 5.4%, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) -4.7%, Sylvamo (SLVM) 7.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Element Solutions (ESI) returned the most: Element Solutions (ESI) +32.3%, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) -7.6%, Sylvamo (SLVM) -25.2%. Over five years, Element Solutions (ESI) compounded fastest (Element Solutions (ESI) +9.1%/yr, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) -1.4%/yr, Sylvamo (SLVM) +3.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Sylvamo (SLVM) has been the steadiest (Element Solutions (ESI) 46.9%, Rayonier Advanced Materials (RYAM) 68.1%, Sylvamo (SLVM) 38.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ESI, RYAM and SLVM?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Element Solutions (ESI) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.