Cabot Corp.
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
Cabot Corp. remains a hold at $74.91 as the investment case still balances a nascent top-line recovery against deteriorating reported earnings and persistent insider selling.
The most recent available quarter (Q3 FY2026, ended 30 Jun) showed revenue turning positive at +6.4% YoY to $982M with adjusted EPS of $1.67 beating estimates, yet reported diluted EPS collapsed to $0.12 from $1.30 the prior quarter, signaling sizable charges that raise earnings-quality concerns. The EV/EBITDA of 7.09x trades at a 25% discount to the peer median of 9.42x, but the P/E of 20.75x sits at a 23% premium, and the stock has fallen below both its 50-day ($81.58) and 200-day ($79.15) moving averages with an RSI of 32.6 indicating oversold conditions. The $50M DOE grant for battery materials expansion is a credible medium-term catalyst, but with net insider dispositions of 394,223 shares over 24 months and zero open-market acquisitions, there is no insider conviction to anchor a more bullish stance.
What could go wrong
- Earnings quality deterioration. Reported diluted EPS fell to $0.12 in Q3 FY2026 (ended 30 Jun) from $1.30 in Q2 FY2026, suggesting large charges that could persist or recur, undermining the adjusted EPS beat streak.
- Insider selling pressure. Over the trailing 24 months, insiders net disposed of 394,223 shares valued at $34.5M with zero open-market acquisitions, signaling limited management confidence at current levels.
- Valuation compression risk. P/E of 20.75x is 22.5% above the peer median of 16.94x; if revenue growth stalls or margins contract, the premium multiple could unwind toward peers.
- Battery materials execution risk. The $50M DOE grant and $75M investment target U.S. conductive additives output by 2028, a multi-year timeline with execution and demand uncertainty.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: results, quarter to 30 Jun · earnings vs estimates, 3 Aug · peer comparison · insider trades, last 24 months. Orin's read on CBT; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Up 4.2% over twelve months, from $71.07 on 27 Oct 2025 to $74.02 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. Its highest close in that time was $93.40 on 26 Jun 2026; the last close is 20.7% below it.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 2.5M, on 26 Jun 2026).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
- Rose flags: large share sales by the company's own officers and directors, from the Form 4 each one files after trading.
On file
All CBT filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $633.3M | 0.0% |
| Earnest Partners | $303.9M | 1.1% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $279.4M | 0.0% |
| Wellington Management Group | $219.5M | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $210.8M | 0.0% |
| State Street | $196.7M | 0.0% |
| Geode Capital Management | $161.6M | 0.0% |
| Bank of America | $150.8M | 0.0% |
| FMR | $141.7M | 0.0% |
| AQR Capital Management | $79.0M | 0.0% |
60 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 206 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$34.5M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 3 sales — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about CBT
Orin answers questions about CBT from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 20.5× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close) — higher than in all 5 of its last 5 fiscal years (middle 12.5×); the typical Basic Materials company on the NYSE is at 22.4×.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 20.5×above usual | 12.5× | 22.4× |
| P/S | 1.05×above usual | 0.97× | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 7.0×near usual | 7.2× | — |
| P/B | 2.4×below usual | 3.0× | — |
- "Its usual" is the middle of its own last 5 fiscal years.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $94 (from $90 to $100) — 27% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$94
$90 – $100 · +27% against the last close
- 0 buy or overweight
- 2 hold
- 1 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 20.5× its last 12 months of profit; the middle P/E of the 5 companies it is compared to that made a profit is 23.0×.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBTCabot Corp. | $4B | 20.5× | 7.0× | 22.9% | 5.2% | 12% |
| AVNTAvient Corporation | $4B | 23.0× | 10.9× | 32.1% | 5.3% | 8% |
| CECelanese Corporation | $5B | lost money | 42.3× | 20.2% | −12.0% | −29% |
| FULH.B. Fuller Company | $3B | 13.6× | 8.6× | 32.8% | 5.6% | 10% |
| HWKNHawkins, Inc. | $3B | 37.2× | 18.8× | 22.4% | 7.5% | 16% |
| KNFKnife River Corporation | $3B | 22.3× | 9.6× | 17.9% | 4.2% | 9% |
| PRMPerimeter Solutions, Inc. | $5B | 101× | 31.3× | 50.7% | 6.7% | 5% |
- CE: lost money over the last 12 months, so no P/E.
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 20.5× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now20.5×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Basic Materials companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 22.4× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now22.4×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A standard cash-flow model puts it at $127 a share — 73% above the $73.38 price it was computed against (27 Oct).
| Model | Value a share | Against the price then |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $127 | 73% above $73.38 |
| Levered | $244 | 232% above $73.38 |
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.
Standard / levered: two versions of the cash-flow model: the standard one counts the cash before the company pays its lenders, the levered one after.