Wacker Chemie WCH.DE
What does Wacker Chemie do?
Wacker Chemie is a globally active specialty chemicals group headquartered in Munich. The company produces silanes, siloxanes, silicone products, fumed silica, and dispersible polymer powders and dispersions used as binders. It also offers biotechnology products such as cyclodextrins, cysteine and pharmaceutical proteins. The business is divided into the segments Silicones, Polymers, Biosolutions and Polysilicon.
Customers are mainly the construction, automotive and electronics industries, the consumer goods and pharmaceutical sectors, and the semiconductor and solar industries. Wacker has a high degree of integrated production, in which by-products and intermediates are reused internally. In silicones, the group is one of the large Western providers and competes with other international chemical groups and, increasingly, with Asian manufacturers. In high-purity polysilicon, its position is shaped particularly by the quality requirements of the semiconductor industry and by price pressure in the solar market.
Score profile
Rank vs. Specialty Chemicals (37 companies). 10 = top of the group, 5 = middle. Calculated from the metrics below, without AI.
Metrics compared with the industry
On profitability and quality, Wacker Chemie ranks in the bottom fifth in the group Specialty Chemicals (1.1/10). On growth, the company ranks in the middle in the group Specialty Chemicals (4.9/10). On valuation (higher = cheaper), the stock ranks in the middle in the group Specialty Chemicals (4.8/10). On financial strength, Wacker Chemie ranks among the best in the group Specialty Chemicals (8.5/10).
| Metric | Stock | Group median | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward P/E | 35.8x | 15.6x | better than 4 % |
| PEG ratio | 5.2x | 1.8x | better than 10 % |
| EV/EBITDA | 6.2x | 11.9x | better than 96 % |
| Price/sales | 0.7x | 1.6x | better than 81 % |
| Price/book | 1.0x | 2.0x | better than 93 % |
| Revenue growth | 9.4% | 8.1% | better than 61 % |
| Earnings growth | 0.0% | 0.0% | better than 38 % |
| Gross margin | 16.8% | 31.6% | better than 12 % |
| Operating margin | 7.0% | 12.7% | better than 15 % |
| Net margin | -4.8% | 5.3% | better than 7 % |
| Return on equity | -5.7% | 9.6% | better than 12 % |
| Debt/equity | 53.4% | 68.5% | better than 70 % |
| Current ratio | 3.0x | 1.8x | better than 95 % |
| Free cash flow yield | 11.6% | 3.9% | better than 91 % |
| Dividend yield | 0.0% | 1.8% | – |
| Beta | 0.75 | 0.90 | – |
Valuation: what is Wacker Chemie worth?
Two valuation approaches – a discounted cash flow model and a valuation at the industry’s median multiples – give Wacker Chemie a model range of 35.05 EUR to 163.01 EUR per share.
11 analysts, average rating “Hold”, average price target 87.27 EUR (+8.7%).
The full DCF matrix, the reverse DCF (what growth the price implies) and scenarios are part of the Pro analysis.
What the business depends on
- Demand from construction, automotive, electronics and consumer goods largely determines capacity utilization in the silicones and polymers divisions.
- Polysilicon sales depend on developments in the semiconductor and solar industries as well as on the prevailing price level.
- Integrated production and technological specialization enable cost advantages and better margins on higher-value products.
Risks
- High energy and raw material costs at the German site weigh on competitiveness, especially against Asian manufacturers.
- The polysilicon business is highly cyclical and depends on overcapacity and trade policy intervention in the solar market.
- Economic weakness in key customer industries such as construction and automotive can weigh on sales and on the utilization of capital-intensive plants.
What to look for with Wacker Chemie
The operating margin (EBITDA margin) is informative, as it shows how well the group absorbs price and cost fluctuations in a capital-intensive, cyclical business.