GLW vs ECL vs Q Stock Comparison

Corning, Ecolab and Qnity Electronics Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
GLW Corning Inc /Ny
$123.63 -20.0% 1M +44.0% 1Y
Market cap
$109.74B
P/E
57.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$16.96B
Div. yield
0.01%
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
5 wins
ECL Ecolab Inc.
$288.57 +4.3% 1M +4.9% 1Y
Market cap
$81.05B
P/E
38.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$16.84B
Div. yield
0.01%
Water Treatment Industrials
6 wins
Q Qnity Electronics, Inc.
$109.85 -11.8% 1M
Market cap
$23.93B
P/E
40.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.21B
Div. yield
0.00%
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
1 win

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Ecolab leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Ecolab 6, Corning 5, Qnity Electronics 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGLWECLQLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $109.74B $81.05B $23.93B GLW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 57.8x 38.3x 40.8x ECL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 35.8x 36.5x 25.3x Q
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +19.4% +7.1% +14.8% GLW
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 11.2% 12.6% 11.2% ECL
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.4% 11.0% 8.3% ECL
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.5x 2.1x 1.8x GLW
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.01% 0.00% ECL
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +44.0% +4.9% — GLW
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +26.5%/yr +5.4%/yr — GLW
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 74.5% 21.9% 55.2% ECL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 57/100 66/100 61/100 ECL

Percentile Scorecard

GLWECLQ

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

AxisGLWECLQ
Valuation 19 #76 of 94 50 #11 of 21 39 #58 of 94
Growth 99 #2 of 92 83 #4 of 19 52 #45 of 92
Profitability 81 #18 of 89 88 #3 of 17 88 #12 of 89
Financial Health 59 #40 of 97 48 #12 of 22 68 #32 of 97
Shareholder Returns 29 #50 of 70 60 #5 of 11 58 #30 of 70
Overall 57 66 61
  • GLW ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • ECL ranked among 22 companies in Environmental Equipment
  • Q ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodGLWECLQSPY
1 month -20.0%+4.3%-11.8% -1.0%
3 months -15.7%+7.4%-18.7% +2.9%
6 months -29.7%+7.1%-24.0% +6.4%
Year to date +41.2%+9.9%+34.5% +11.4%
1 year +44.0%+4.9%— +13.1%
3 years +360.3%+80.1%— +79.4%
3 years, per year +66.4%+21.7%— +21.5%
5 years +223.4%+30.3%— +67.7%
5 years, per year +26.5%+5.4%— +10.9%
10 years +419.0%+149.2%— +255.2%
10 years, per year +17.9%+9.6%— +13.5%

Risk

MeasureGLWECLQSPY
Volatility, 1Y 74.5%21.9%55.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 75.7%22.0%58.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 3.010.482.64 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.590.23— 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -51.6%-44.3%-38.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -51.6%-6.4%-37.5% -2.5%
52-week high $255.69$308.35$175.64 $779.14
52-week low $78.03$245.73$73.54 $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.

MultipleGLWECLQ
P/E now vs peer median 56.1xmedian 21.5x 38.3xmedian 25.9x 39.3xmedian 21.5x
P/S now vs peer median 6.3xmedian 1.4x 4.8xmedian 2.5x 4.4xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 27.9xmedian 12.4x 22.9xmedian 19.3x 15.1xmedian 12.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 44.5xmedian 15.5x 43.2xmedian 25.4x 27.9xmedian 15.5x
P/B now vs peer median 8.1xmedian 1.6x 8.0xmedian 2.0x 3.0xmedian 1.6x
PEG now vs peer median 1.28median 1.70 1.72median 1.53 —median 1.70

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 monthsGLWECLQ
Revenue $16.96B $16.84B $5.21B
Gross profit $6.17B $7.43B $2.41B
Operating income $2.60B $2.85B $1.34B
Net income $2.07B $2.13B $630.00M
Free cash flow $2.40B $1.87B $825.00M
R&D $1.14B – $374.00M
EPS (diluted) $2.17 $7.50 $2.79
Cash & equivalents $2.50B $5.14B $961.00M
Total debt $33.16B $38.40B $9.77B
Shares (diluted) 875.00M 282.20M 210.20M
Enterprise value $102.31B $72.79B $21.07B

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
MetricGLWECLQ
P/E 56.1x 38.3x 39.3x
P/FCF 44.5x 43.2x 27.9x
P/Operating cash flow 27.2x 26.5x 19.7x
P/S 6.3x 4.8x 4.4x
P/B 8.1x 8.0x 3.0x
P/Tangible book 8.5x 12.2x 3.5x
EV/EBITDA 27.9x 22.9x 15.1x
EV/EBIT 43.3x 31.2x 19.5x
EV/Revenue 6.6x 5.3x 5.0x
EV/FCF 47.0x 47.4x 31.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 28.7x 29.1x 22.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.28 1.72 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGLWECLQ
Revenue growth (1Y) 19.4% 7.1% 14.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 8.4% 4.5% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) 24.9% 7.5% 13.3%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 15.6% 9.4% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 51.7% -1.4% 11.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 39.6% 18.4% –
Net income growth (1Y) 128.4% -1.0% -23.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 44.1% 21.3% –
EPS growth (1Y) 129.3% 0.2% -26.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 43.7% 22.3% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 79.5% 16.5% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 27.4% 13.9% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 100.6% 19.1% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 111.0% 12.2% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricGLWECLQ
Gross margin 36.4% 44.1% 46.2%
EBITDA margin 23.8% 23.1% 33.0%
Operating margin 15.3% 16.9% 25.6%
Pretax margin 14.2% 15.6% 16.9%
Net margin 11.2% 12.6% 11.2%
FCF margin 14.1% 11.1% 15.8%
Operating cash flow margin 23.1% 18.1% 22.4%
Return on equity 16.3% 21.2% 8.4%
Return on assets 6.5% 7.8% 4.4%
Return on invested capital 10.4% 11.0% 8.3%
Return on capital employed 10.0% 13.3% 10.5%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.6x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.9x 1.4x 1.9x
Stock comp / revenue 2.5% 0.8% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGLWECLQ
Debt / assets 25.7% 44.0% 28.1%
Debt / equity 0.6x 1.3x 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.5x 2.1x 1.8x
Debt / FCF 3.5x 7.0x 4.9x
Liabilities / assets 60.2% 66.3% 47.3%
Equity / assets 39.8% 33.7% 52.7%
Interest coverage 7.3x 17.6x 7.1x
Current ratio 1.8x 1.8x 2.0x
Quick ratio 0.9x 1.5x 1.5x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.9x 0.7x
Altman Z-score 4.89 4.15 2.85

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGLWECLQ
Dividend yield 0.9% 1.0% 0.3%
Net buyback yield -0.5% 1.3% 0.2%
Shareholder yield 0.4% 2.3% 0.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) 47.8% 37.4% 5.4%
Payout ratio (FCF) 41.4% 42.6% 4.1%
Dividend growth (1Y) -0.3% 13.4% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 0.9% 9.3% –

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.

ConsensusGLWECLQ
Forward P/E 35.8xFY2026 36.5xFY2026 25.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.45FY2026 $7.90FY2026 $4.34FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +36.9%FY2026 +4.9%FY2026 +29.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +23.2% +23.3% +21.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $18.31BFY2026 $17.24BFY2026 $5.34BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +11.6%FY2026 +7.2%FY2026 +12.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +30.7% +5.4% +23.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGLWECLQ
Held by institutions 73.0% 80.0% –
Institutions holding 2,680 1,710 –
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.5% +1.4% –
Institutions buying 1,474 762 –
Institutions selling 949 679 –
Buyers to sellers 1.55 1.12 –

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.

GLWECLQ
GLW 1.00 0.02 0.61
ECL 0.02 1.00 0.15
Q 0.61 0.15 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GLW, ECL and Q?

Corning (GLW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Corning (GLW) $109.74B, Ecolab (ECL) $81.05B, Qnity Electronics (Q) $23.93B.

Which stock is cheaper, GLW, ECL and Q?

Ecolab (ECL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Corning (GLW) 57.8x, Ecolab (ECL) 38.3x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 40.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Qnity Electronics (Q) is cheapest (Corning (GLW) 35.8x, Ecolab (ECL) 36.5x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 25.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Corning (GLW) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Corning (GLW) +19.4%, Ecolab (ECL) +7.1%, Qnity Electronics (Q) +14.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Ecolab (ECL) has the highest net margin (Corning (GLW) 11.2%, Ecolab (ECL) 12.6%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 11.2%). On return on invested capital, Ecolab (ECL) leads (Corning (GLW) 10.4%, Ecolab (ECL) 11.0%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 8.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Corning (GLW) returned the most: Corning (GLW) +44.0%, Ecolab (ECL) +4.9%. Over five years, Corning (GLW) compounded fastest (Corning (GLW) +26.5%/yr, Ecolab (ECL) +5.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Ecolab (ECL) has the highest dividend yield: Corning (GLW) 0.01%, Ecolab (ECL) 0.01%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 0.00%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ecolab (ECL) has been the steadiest (Corning (GLW) 74.5%, Ecolab (ECL) 21.9%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 55.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

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