ICL vs CF vs SQM Stock Comparison

Icl, CF Industries Holdings and Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ICL ICL Group Ltd.
$4.81 -6.4% 1M -26.7% 1Y
Market cap
$6.35B
P/E
9.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$7.71B
Div. yield
–
Fertilizers Basic Materials
1 win

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

CF Industries Holdings leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (CF Industries Holdings 7, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile 3, Icl 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionICLCFSQMLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $6.35B $18.51B $17.23B CF
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 9.2x 8.8x 12.4x CF
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 12.0x 8.5x 8.0x SQM
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +10.9% +20.0% +59.0% SQM
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 9.0% 27.1% 20.6% CF
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 21.7% 22.8% SQM
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 0.2x 0.2x CF
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.02% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -26.7% +39.8% +25.0% CF
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -11.0%/yr +16.3%/yr +1.2%/yr CF
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 39.0% 42.7% 47.0% ICL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 82/100 83/100 70/100 CF

Percentile Scorecard

ICLCFSQM

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

AxisICLCFSQM
Valuation 98 #3 of 94 83 #17 of 94 81 #31 of 162
Growth 47 #49 of 92 69 #29 of 92 62 #56 of 147
Profitability 82 #17 of 89 99 #2 of 89 81 #24 of 122
Financial Health – 91 #10 of 97 32 #112 of 165
Shareholder Returns 100 #1 of 70 75 #18 of 70 92 #10 of 107
Overall 82 83 70
  • ICL ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • CF ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • SQM ranked among 176 companies in Metals and Mining

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodICLCFSQMSPY
1 month -6.4%+5.4%-14.8% -0.8%
3 months -6.8%+0.9%-17.2% +3.5%
6 months -13.2%-2.2%-37.6% +7.0%
Year to date -15.8%+56.3%-17.2% +12.2%
1 year -26.7%+39.8%+25.0% +13.0%
3 years 0.0%+51.3%+11.5% +86.3%
3 years, per year 0.0%+14.8%+3.7% +23.1%
5 years -44.1%+113.0%+5.9% +68.6%
5 years, per year -11.0%+16.3%+1.2% +11.0%
10 years +30.7%+373.0%+94.6% +258.0%
10 years, per year +2.7%+16.8%+6.9% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureICLCFSQMSPY
Volatility, 1Y 39.0%42.7%47.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 44.8%43.2%43.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.77-1.070.96 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.680.930.53 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -70.0%-49.1%-73.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -29.5%-13.2%-40.2% -1.8%
52-week high $6.82$139.27$95.31 $779.14
52-week low $4.70$76.09$44.36 $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.

MultipleICLCFSQM
P/E now vs peer median 9.0xmedian 21.6x 8.8xmedian 21.6x 11.7xmedian 12.8x
P/S now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 1.4x 2.4xmedian 1.4x 2.4xmedian 3.1x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 12.4x 4.7xmedian 12.4x 4.8xmedian 7.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 5.2xmedian 15.8x 9.6xmedian 15.8x —median 15.2x
P/B now vs peer median —median 1.6x 2.1xmedian 1.6x 1.9xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median -0.55median 1.66 2.39median 1.66 -0.75median 0.29

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 monthsICLCFSQM
Revenue $7.71B $7.74B $6.73B
Gross profit $2.36B $3.29B $2.83B
Operating income $715.00M $3.18B $3.11B
Net income $654.00M $2.50B $1.39B
Free cash flow $1.19B $1.91B –
EPS (diluted) $0.54 $13.64 $4.86
Cash & equivalents $496.00M $2.48B $3.38B
Total debt – $3.22B $19.72B
Shares (diluted) 1.29B 153.90M 285.64M
Enterprise value $3.04B $10.17B $3.89B

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
MetricICLCFSQM
P/E 9.0x 8.8x 11.7x
P/FCF 5.2x 9.6x –
P/Operating cash flow – 6.1x –
P/S 0.8x 2.4x 2.4x
P/B – 2.1x 1.9x
P/Tangible book – 2.2x 1.9x
EV/EBITDA – 4.7x 4.8x
EV/EBIT 8.0x 6.0x 5.5x
EV/Revenue 0.7x 2.5x 2.5x
EV/FCF 4.8x 10.0x –
EV/Operating cash flow – 6.4x –
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -0.55 2.39 -0.75

Growth

14 metrics
MetricICLCFSQM
Revenue growth (1Y) 10.9% 20.0% 59.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 1.8% -3.9% -4.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 5.2% 43.3% 150.2%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 5.2% -5.0% -9.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) -1.7% 66.7% 134.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -20.8% -3.3% -17.5%
Net income growth (1Y) -1.7% 58.6% 190.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -18.0% -3.7% -7.2%
EPS growth (1Y) 88.4% 70.9% 190.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -16.4% 3.7% -15.7%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – 19.1% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – -2.7% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -17.5% 6.9% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -8.0% -11.4% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricICLCFSQM
Gross margin 30.6% 42.5% 42.1%
EBITDA margin – 52.6% 52.7%
Operating margin 9.3% 41.1% 46.2%
Pretax margin 9.9% 40.1% 36.6%
Net margin 9.0% 27.1% 20.6%
FCF margin 15.4% 24.7% –
Operating cash flow margin – 38.5% –
Return on equity – 29.1% 16.4%
Return on assets – 16.8% 8.6%
Return on invested capital – 21.7% 22.8%
Return on capital employed – 22.6% 23.4%
Asset turnover – 0.5x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.2x –
Stock comp / revenue – 0.6% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricICLCFSQM
Debt / assets – 21.3% 31.3%
Debt / equity – 0.4x 0.6x
Net debt / EBITDA – 0.2x 0.2x
Debt / FCF – 1.7x –
Liabilities / assets – 40.9% 47.9%
Equity / assets – 59.1% 52.1%
Interest coverage – 18.6x 15.3x
Current ratio – 4.9x 2.6x
Quick ratio – 4.1x 1.8x
Cash ratio – 3.2x 1.5x
Altman Z-score – 3.67 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricICLCFSQM
Dividend yield 13.1% 1.7% 4.2%
Net buyback yield – 5.2% –
Shareholder yield 13.1% 7.0% 4.2%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 12.6% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 16.4% –
Dividend growth (1Y) – -8.5% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – -0.3% –

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.

ConsensusICLCFSQM
Forward P/E 12.0xFY2026 8.5xFY2026 8.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.40FY2026 $14.21FY2026 $7.12FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +11.1%FY2026 +48.5%FY2026 +245.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +12.5% -22.6% -2.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $7.47BFY2026 $8.52BFY2026 $8.37BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +4.5%FY2026 +20.3%FY2026 +82.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +13.0% -10.2% +2.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersICLCFSQM
Held by institutions 13.7% 100.0% 13.4%
Institutions holding 221 968 316
Change in shares held, QoQ -13.5% +5.8% -3.0%
Institutions buying 140 547 166
Institutions selling 56 309 100
Buyers to sellers 2.50 1.77 1.66

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.

ICLCFSQM
ICL 1.00 0.19 0.30
CF 0.19 1.00 0.04
SQM 0.30 0.04 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ICL, CF and SQM?

CF Industries Holdings (CF) is the largest by market capitalisation: Icl (ICL) $6.35B, CF Industries Holdings (CF) $18.51B, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) $17.23B.

Which stock is cheaper, ICL, CF and SQM?

CF Industries Holdings (CF) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Icl (ICL) 9.2x, CF Industries Holdings (CF) 8.8x, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) 12.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) is cheapest (Icl (ICL) 12.0x, CF Industries Holdings (CF) 8.5x, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) 8.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Icl (ICL) +10.9%, CF Industries Holdings (CF) +20.0%, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) +59.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

CF Industries Holdings (CF) has the highest net margin (Icl (ICL) 9.0%, CF Industries Holdings (CF) 27.1%, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) 20.6%). On return on invested capital, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) leads (CF Industries Holdings (CF) 21.7%, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) 22.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year CF Industries Holdings (CF) returned the most: Icl (ICL) -26.7%, CF Industries Holdings (CF) +39.8%, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) +25.0%. Over five years, CF Industries Holdings (CF) compounded fastest (Icl (ICL) -11.0%/yr, CF Industries Holdings (CF) +16.3%/yr, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) +1.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Icl (ICL) 0.00%, CF Industries Holdings (CF) 0.02%, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) 0.00%. Icl (ICL) and Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Icl (ICL) has been the steadiest (Icl (ICL) 39.0%, CF Industries Holdings (CF) 42.7%, Chemical & Mining Co Of Chile (SQM) 47.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ICL, CF and SQM?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, CF Industries Holdings (CF) leads on 7. 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.