GLW vs ECL vs ESI Stock Comparison

Corning, Ecolab and Element Solutions Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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GLW Corning Inc /Ny
$126.36 -19.4% 1M +41.4% 1Y
Market cap
$113.79B
P/E
72.0x
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
3 wins
ECL Ecolab Inc.
$291.28 +4.1% 1M +4.1% 1Y
Market cap
$82.08B
P/E
39.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$17.37B
Div. yield
–
Water Treatment Industrials
3 wins
ESI Element Solutions Inc
$35.02 -1.9% 1M +32.3% 1Y
Market cap
$8.68B
P/E
42.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.49B
Div. yield
–
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
2 wins

Head to Head

8 decided of 12

Corning leads on 3 of the 12 questions below (Corning 3, Ecolab 3, Element Solutions 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGLWECLESILeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $113.79B $82.08B $8.68B GLW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 72.0x 39.4x 42.4x ECL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 36.6x 36.9x 20.4x ESI
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months — +9.3% +39.6% ESI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — — 5.9% –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — 5.4% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — 3.2x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +41.4% +4.1% +32.3% GLW
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +28.8%/yr +5.7%/yr +9.1%/yr GLW
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 74.6% 21.9% 46.9% ECL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 22/100 55/100 51/100 ECL

Percentile Scorecard

GLWECLESI

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

AxisGLWECLESI
Valuation 11 #84 of 94 35 #14 of 21 39 #58 of 94
Growth – 83 #4 of 19 77 #22 of 91
Profitability – 81 #4 of 17 61 #34 of 86
Financial Health 37 #60 of 95 19 #18 of 22 48 #50 of 95
Shareholder Returns 19 #57 of 70 – 30 #49 of 70
Overall 22 55 51
  • GLW ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • ECL ranked among 22 companies in Environmental Equipment
  • ESI ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodGLWECLESISPY
1 month -19.4%+4.1%-1.9% -0.2%
3 months +0.3%+2.8%-4.1% +3.9%
6 months -17.4%+9.1%-9.7% +8.2%
Year to date +44.3%+11.0%+40.1% +12.9%
1 year +41.4%+4.1%+32.3% +12.3%
3 years +375.2%+85.0%+94.6% +87.4%
3 years, per year +68.2%+22.8%+24.9% +23.3%
5 years +254.5%+31.8%+54.3% +67.9%
5 years, per year +28.8%+5.7%+9.1% +10.9%
10 years +451.3%+153.4%+365.1% +261.1%
10 years, per year +18.6%+9.7%+16.6% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureGLWECLESISPY
Volatility, 1Y 74.6%21.9%46.9% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 75.4%22.0%47.4% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 3.020.482.18 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.560.190.69 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -51.6%-44.3%-40.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -50.6%-5.5%-28.7% -1.2%
52-week high $255.69$308.35$49.09 $779.14
52-week low $78.03$245.73$22.99 $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.

MultipleGLWECLESI
P/E now vs peer median 72.0xmedian 22.0x 39.3xmedian 25.6x 41.6xmedian 22.0x
P/S now vs peer median 8.1xmedian 1.4x 4.7xmedian 2.4x 2.4xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 12.4x —median 16.7x 17.9xmedian 12.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 57.1xmedian 15.1x 41.5xmedian 23.6x 46.5xmedian 15.1x
P/B now vs peer median 7.6xmedian 1.6x 7.8xmedian 2.0x 2.9xmedian 1.6x
PEG now vs peer median —median 1.66 1.98median 1.68 0.75median 1.66

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 monthsGLWECLESI
Revenue – $17.37B $3.49B
Gross profit – – $1.28B
Operating income – $2.90B $408.70M
Net income – – $205.20M
Free cash flow – – $182.90M
R&D – – $80.00M
EPS (diluted) – $7.38 $0.84
Cash & equivalents $2.54B $722.30M $224.90M
Total debt – – $2.08B
Shares (diluted) 875.00M 282.20M 243.70M
Enterprise value $113.79B $82.08B $7.46B

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
MetricGLWECLESI
P/E 72.0x 39.3x 41.6x
P/FCF 57.1x 41.5x 46.5x
P/Operating cash flow – – 30.0x
P/S 8.1x 4.7x 2.4x
P/B 7.6x 7.8x 2.9x
P/Tangible book 7.9x 15.2x 4.5x
EV/EBITDA – – 17.9x
EV/EBIT – – 25.3x
EV/Revenue – 4.7x 3.0x
EV/FCF – – 56.6x
EV/Operating cash flow – – 36.5x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) – 1.98 0.75

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGLWECLESI
Revenue growth (1Y) – 9.3% 39.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) – 4.9% 14.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – 21.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – 11.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) – 11.3% 17.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – 17.2% 31.9%
Net income growth (1Y) – – -14.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) – – 56.0%
EPS growth (1Y) – 6.1% -15.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) – 19.8% 55.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – – -16.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – – -4.2%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – – -32.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – – -12.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricGLWECLESI
Gross margin – – 36.6%
EBITDA margin – – 16.6%
Operating margin – – 11.7%
Pretax margin – – 9.0%
Net margin – – 5.9%
FCF margin – – 5.2%
Operating cash flow margin – – 8.1%
Return on equity – 20.4% 7.2%
Return on assets – 6.9% 3.5%
Return on invested capital – – 5.4%
Return on capital employed – – 7.8%
Asset turnover – 0.6x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – – 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue – – 2.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGLWECLESI
Debt / assets – – 35.5%
Debt / equity – – 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA – – 3.2x
Debt / FCF – – 11.4x
Liabilities / assets 58.1% 66.4% 50.7%
Equity / assets 41.9% 33.6% 49.3%
Interest coverage – – –
Current ratio 1.7x 1.1x 2.8x
Quick ratio – – 1.7x
Cash ratio – – 0.4x
Altman Z-score – – 2.56

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGLWECLESI
Dividend yield 0.9% 1.0% 0.9%
Net buyback yield – – 0.5%
Shareholder yield 0.9% 1.0% 1.4%
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.

ConsensusGLWECLESI
Forward P/E 36.6xFY2026 36.9xFY2026 20.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.45FY2026 $7.90FY2026 $1.72FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +36.9%FY2026 +4.9%FY2026 +15.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +24.1% +23.2% +33.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $18.34BFY2026 $17.26BFY2026 $3.86BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +11.8%FY2026 +7.3%FY2026 +51.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +31.0% +5.4% +2.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGLWECLESI
Held by institutions 73.0% 80.0% 100.0%
Institutions holding 2,682 1,710 499
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.5% +1.4% +0.6%
Institutions buying 1,476 762 269
Institutions selling 949 679 176
Buyers to sellers 1.56 1.12 1.53

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.

GLWECLESI
GLW 1.00 0.02 0.56
ECL 0.02 1.00 0.17
ESI 0.56 0.17 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GLW, ECL and ESI?

Corning (GLW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Corning (GLW) $113.79B, Ecolab (ECL) $82.08B, Element Solutions (ESI) $8.68B.

Which stock is cheaper, GLW, ECL and ESI?

Ecolab (ECL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Corning (GLW) 72.0x, Ecolab (ECL) 39.4x, Element Solutions (ESI) 42.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Element Solutions (ESI) is cheapest (Corning (GLW) 36.6x, Ecolab (ECL) 36.9x, Element Solutions (ESI) 20.4x). 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: Ecolab (ECL) +9.3%, Element Solutions (ESI) +39.6%.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Corning (GLW) returned the most: Corning (GLW) +41.4%, Ecolab (ECL) +4.1%, Element Solutions (ESI) +32.3%. Over five years, Corning (GLW) compounded fastest (Corning (GLW) +28.8%/yr, Ecolab (ECL) +5.7%/yr, Element Solutions (ESI) +9.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ecolab (ECL) has been the steadiest (Corning (GLW) 74.6%, Ecolab (ECL) 21.9%, Element Solutions (ESI) 46.9%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, GLW, ECL and ESI?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Corning (GLW) leads on 3. 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.