LyondellBasell Industries N.V. ranks near the peer group median, with valuation as the main structural strength, while profitability is less supportive than the other dimensions. That creates a tension: current price behavior looks stronger than the structural profile would suggest.
Peer-relative scores, weakest to strongest
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is a global chemical producer specializing in polyolefins, refining, and advanced polymer solutions. The company operates across commodity and specialty chemicals, with a growing focus on circular and low-carbon products.
A forward P/E of 12.3x—less than half the peer median—and a 9.3% dividend yield position LyondellBasell at a significant discount, but persistent profitability and stability issues maintain this valuation gap. The core issue is not simply cyclical weakness: multi-period negative ROIC (-1.2%), a consistently negative operating margin (-0.9%), and net income losses of -€0.7bn last year indicate structural challenges. These figures show that the business is not converting scale into sustainable returns, and the discount reflects deep-seated earnings and capital return weakness rather than market pessimism alone.
Internally, the picture is reinforced by a bottom-decile stability score (10/100), high 1-year volatility (46.1%), and a maximum drawdown of -55.4%. These risk signals reflect real fragility in the earnings base and capital structure. While positive analyst upgrades and price target increases in April 2026 are noted, they do not indicate a reversal of the core profitability and stability problems. The underlying numbers remain weak.
External context complicates the case. A Q4 2025 EPS miss (-$0.26 vs est. $0.22) despite a revenue beat highlights ongoing operational execution issues. Geopolitical volatility, as seen during the Iran war, triggered a 40% price surge and subsequent pullback, showing LYB’s exposure to global supply chain shocks. Stricter environmental regulations are raising compliance costs and pressuring already thin margins. These factors reinforce the structural nature of the discount, even as the company’s Circular and Low Carbon Solutions segment posts 65% YoY volume growth—a positive, but not yet sufficient to offset core weaknesses.
Compared to peers, LYB’s profitability and quality scores (3/100) are among the weakest in the sector, with only DOW and Arkema showing similarly low quality, but not to the same persistent and multi-period negative extent. The valuation discount is more pronounced than all peers, but so is the severity of its structural earnings and capital return weakness—partly driven by factors specific to LYB rather than the broader sector.
A more constructive assessment would require ROIC and operating margin returning to sustained positive territory, and net income turning positive for multiple periods. Supporting improvement would include demonstrated resilience to regulatory cost pressures. Until then, LyondellBasell appears structurally challenged, with a discount for understandable reasons.
Break down LYB's position across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.
This analysis is rule-based and descriptive. Peer-relative scores are derived from functional peer group comparisons using publicly available financial data. Scores reflect structural positioning only and do not constitute investment advice, a buy or sell recommendation, or a forecast of future performance. AssetNext peer scores are recalculated periodically as new data becomes available.
AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.
Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.
Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.
Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.