LYONDELLBASELL INDUSTRIES N.V. vs NEWMARKET CORPORATION, two Chemicals stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
NewMarket earns 23.71% on equity from petroleum additives, a 15.25% net margin, the kind of steady chemistry that gets dosed into fuels and reordered. LyondellBasell makes commodity petrochemicals and lost money this cycle, a negative 7.86% return and a negative 2.66% margin as prices sagged. The dividends tell opposite stories: LyondellBasell yields 9.78%, a figure that leans on a recovery, while NewMarket's 1.42% comes straight out of real earnings. NewMarket trades at 18.04 times earnings; LyondellBasell has none to price. NewMarket carries modest debt at 0.54, LyondellBasell almost none at 0.02. One earns through the cycle, the other rides it.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | LYB | NEU |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $56.34 | $762.64 |
| Market cap | $18.2B | $7.1B |
| Sector | Chemicals | Chemicals |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | -4.1% |
| P/E | — | 17.4 |
| P/B | 1.81 | 4.10 |
| P/S | 0.61 | 2.64 |
| EV/EBITDA | 335.7 | 12.2 |
| Revenue growth | -9.3% | -3.5% |
| Gross margin | — | 33.0% |
| Operating margin | 3.3% | 21.4% |
| Net margin | -2.7% | 15.3% |
| Return on equity | -7.9% | 23.7% |
| Return on assets | -2.3% | 11.7% |
| Return on invested capital | -2.3% | 15.4% |
| FCF yield | 5.0% | 6.1% |
| Dividend yield | 9.7% | 1.5% |
| Debt / equity | 0.02 | 0.54 |
| Current ratio | 1.54 | 2.55 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.31 | 4.19 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 4 / 9 | 7 / 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.