INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC vs Sensient Technologies Corp, two Chemicals stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Sensient Technologies and International Flavors & Fragrances both sell colors, flavors, and fragrances, ingredients specified into recipes and reordered. Sensient earns 11.83% on equity, roughly double IFF's 5.85%, though IFF holds the slimmer edge on net margin at 7.68% against 8.71%. IFF is the giant here at $19.6B versus Sensient's $5.1B, yet it trades at 1.39 times book while Sensient commands 4.21 times, the market paying up for the smaller name's cleaner returns. On earnings Sensient runs pricier at 35.46 times against 23.63. Both pay dividends near 1.4% to 2.1%. Same shelf, different states of health.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | IFF | SXT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $77.51 | $115.84 |
| Market cap | $19.9B | $4.9B |
| Sector | Chemicals | Chemicals |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +19.0% | +16.1% |
| P/E | 24.0 | 34.2 |
| P/B | 1.41 | 4.06 |
| P/S | 1.85 | 2.99 |
| EV/EBITDA | 14.3 | 20.1 |
| Revenue growth | -5.6% | +5.8% |
| Gross margin | 37.1% | — |
| Operating margin | 10.0% | 15.3% |
| Net margin | 7.7% | 8.7% |
| Return on equity | 5.8% | 11.8% |
| Return on assets | 3.3% | 6.3% |
| Return on invested capital | 3.2% | 8.3% |
| FCF yield | 2.0% | 0.4% |
| Dividend yield | 2.1% | 1.4% |
| Debt / equity | 0.41 | 0.63 |
| Current ratio | 1.49 | 5.01 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 6.36 | 8.44 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.