GLW vs Q vs ESI Stock Comparison

Corning, Qnity Electronics and Element Solutions Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
1 more company in this comparison (DD) Create a free account to keep reading and compare up to 10 companies.
GLW Corning Inc /Ny
$131.61 -13.1% 1M +52.3% 1Y
Market cap
$111.01B
P/E
72.0x
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
3 wins
Q Qnity Electronics, Inc.
$122.79 -1.7% 1M +29.6% 1Y
Market cap
$25.62B
P/E
43.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.21B
Div. yield
0.00%
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
4 wins
ESI Element Solutions Inc
$35.80 +1.9% 1M +36.5% 1Y
Market cap
$8.61B
P/E
42.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.49B
Div. yield
–
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Element Solutions leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (Element Solutions 4, Qnity Electronics 4, Corning 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGLWQESILeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $111.01B $25.62B $8.61B GLW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 72.0x 43.7x 42.0x ESI
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 38.1x 28.2x 20.8x ESI
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months — +14.8% +39.6% ESI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 11.2% 5.9% Q
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 8.3% 5.4% Q
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 1.8x 3.2x Q
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +52.3% +29.6% +36.5% GLW
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +29.9%/yr — +9.5%/yr GLW
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 74.6% 55.3% 47.0% ESI
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 23/100 59/100 52/100 Q

Percentile Scorecard

GLWQESI

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

AxisGLWQESI
Valuation 11 #84 of 94 34 #62 of 94 41 #56 of 94
Growth – 51 #45 of 91 77 #22 of 91
Profitability – 88 #11 of 84 60 #34 of 84
Financial Health 39 #58 of 94 70 #29 of 94 47 #50 of 94
Shareholder Returns 19 #56 of 69 52 #34 of 69 32 #47 of 69
Overall 23 59 52
  • GLW ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • Q ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • ESI ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodGLWQESISPY
1 month -13.1%-1.7%+1.9% +0.9%
3 months +6.1%-0.5%+2.8% +5.9%
6 months -13.4%-13.1%-15.9% +8.5%
Year to date +50.3%+50.4%+43.3% +13.3%
1 year +52.3%+29.6%+36.5% +12.4%
3 years +395.0%—+98.9% +88.1%
3 years, per year +70.5%—+25.8% +23.5%
5 years +270.0%—+57.6% +68.2%
5 years, per year +29.9%—+9.5% +11.0%
10 years +480.3%—+397.2% +263.4%
10 years, per year +19.2%—+17.4% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureGLWQESISPY
Volatility, 1Y 74.6%55.3%47.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 75.6%58.7%47.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 3.032.662.19 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.700.540.78 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -51.6%-38.1%-40.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -48.5%-30.1%-27.1% -0.9%
52-week high $255.69$175.64$49.09 $779.14
52-week low $78.03$73.54$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.

MultipleGLWQESI
P/E now vs peer median 72.0xmedian 22.0x 43.9xmedian 22.0x 42.5xmedian 22.0x
P/S now vs peer median 8.1xmedian 1.4x 4.9xmedian 1.4x 2.5xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 12.4x 16.7xmedian 12.4x 18.2xmedian 12.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 57.1xmedian 15.5x 31.1xmedian 15.5x 47.5xmedian 15.5x
P/B now vs peer median 7.9xmedian 1.7x 3.4xmedian 1.7x 3.0xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median —median 1.84 —median 1.84 0.76median 1.84

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 monthsGLWQESI
Revenue – $5.21B $3.49B
Gross profit – $2.41B $1.28B
Operating income – $1.34B $408.70M
Net income – $630.00M $205.20M
Free cash flow – $825.00M $182.90M
R&D – $374.00M $80.00M
EPS (diluted) – $2.79 $0.84
Cash & equivalents $2.54B $961.00M $224.90M
Total debt – $4.02B $2.08B
Shares (diluted) 875.00M 210.20M 243.70M
Enterprise value $111.01B $22.76B $7.39B

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
MetricGLWQESI
P/E 72.0x 43.9x 42.5x
P/FCF 57.1x 31.1x 47.5x
P/Operating cash flow – 22.0x 30.7x
P/S 8.1x 4.9x 2.5x
P/B 7.9x 3.4x 3.0x
P/Tangible book 8.3x 3.9x 4.6x
EV/EBITDA – 16.7x 18.2x
EV/EBIT – 21.5x 25.8x
EV/Revenue – 5.5x 3.0x
EV/FCF – 34.8x 57.6x
EV/Operating cash flow – 24.6x 37.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) – – 0.76

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGLWQESI
Revenue growth (1Y) – 14.8% 39.6%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) – – 14.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 13.3% 21.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – 11.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) – 11.6% 17.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) – – 31.9%
Net income growth (1Y) – -23.6% -14.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) – – 56.0%
EPS growth (1Y) – -26.4% -15.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) – – 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
MetricGLWQESI
Gross margin – 46.2% 36.6%
EBITDA margin – 33.0% 16.6%
Operating margin – 25.6% 11.7%
Pretax margin – 16.9% 9.0%
Net margin – 11.2% 5.9%
FCF margin – 15.8% 5.2%
Operating cash flow margin – 22.4% 8.1%
Return on equity – 8.4% 7.2%
Return on assets – 4.4% 3.5%
Return on invested capital – 8.3% 5.4%
Return on capital employed – 10.5% 7.8%
Asset turnover – 0.4x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.9x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.7% 2.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGLWQESI
Debt / assets – 28.1% 35.5%
Debt / equity – 0.5x 0.7x
Net debt / EBITDA – 1.8x 3.2x
Debt / FCF – 4.9x 11.4x
Liabilities / assets 58.1% 47.3% 50.7%
Equity / assets 41.9% 52.7% 49.3%
Interest coverage – 7.1x –
Current ratio 1.7x 2.0x 2.8x
Quick ratio – 1.5x 1.7x
Cash ratio – 0.7x 0.4x
Altman Z-score – 3.09 2.60

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGLWQESI
Dividend yield 0.9% 0.2% 0.9%
Net buyback yield – 0.2% 0.5%
Shareholder yield 0.9% 0.4% 1.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 5.4% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 4.1% –
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.

ConsensusGLWQESI
Forward P/E 38.1xFY2026 28.2xFY2026 20.8xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.45FY2026 $4.35FY2026 $1.72FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +36.9%FY2026 +29.9%FY2026 +15.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +24.1% +21.8% +33.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $18.34BFY2026 $5.34BFY2026 $3.86BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +11.8%FY2026 +12.5%FY2026 +51.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +31.0% +23.3% +2.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGLWQESI
Held by institutions 73.0% 77.2% 100.0%
Institutions holding 2,683 1,325 499
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.5% +4.4% +0.6%
Institutions buying 1,477 658 269
Institutions selling 949 439 176
Buyers to sellers 1.56 1.50 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.

GLWQESI
GLW 1.00 0.61 0.56
Q 0.61 1.00 0.70
ESI 0.56 0.70 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GLW, Q and ESI?

Corning (GLW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Corning (GLW) $111.01B, Qnity Electronics (Q) $25.62B, Element Solutions (ESI) $8.61B.

Which stock is cheaper, GLW, Q and ESI?

Element Solutions (ESI) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Corning (GLW) 72.0x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 43.7x, Element Solutions (ESI) 42.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Element Solutions (ESI) is cheapest (Corning (GLW) 38.1x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 28.2x, Element Solutions (ESI) 20.8x). 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: Qnity Electronics (Q) +14.8%, Element Solutions (ESI) +39.6%.

Which company is more profitable?

Qnity Electronics (Q) has the highest net margin (Qnity Electronics (Q) 11.2%, Element Solutions (ESI) 5.9%). On return on invested capital, Qnity Electronics (Q) leads (Qnity Electronics (Q) 8.3%, Element Solutions (ESI) 5.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Corning (GLW) returned the most: Corning (GLW) +52.3%, Qnity Electronics (Q) +29.6%, Element Solutions (ESI) +36.5%. Over five years, Corning (GLW) compounded fastest (Corning (GLW) +29.9%/yr, Element Solutions (ESI) +9.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Corning (GLW) 0.00%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 0.00%, Element Solutions (ESI) 0.00%. Corning (GLW) and Element Solutions (ESI) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Element Solutions (ESI) has been the steadiest (Corning (GLW) 74.6%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 55.3%, Element Solutions (ESI) 47.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, GLW, Q 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, Element Solutions (ESI) leads on 4. 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.