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Element Solutions Inc

ESI · Materials · FY2025 filings · · not refreshed in 34 days · Shallow moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

Shallow moat
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The five investor questions

41

2021–2025 (latest 5 aligned FYs; v3 window cap 5): revenue $2.4B to $2.6B, increasing; diluted EPS 0.82 to 0.79, decreasing.

70

Median gross margin 42.3% over 10y, very stable.

0

Median ROIC 5.1%, above the 12% hurdle in 0% of years.

72

Net debt/EBITDA 2.0x, no material interest expense disclosed.

80

Owner earnings changed +21.2%/yr over up to the ten most recent annual observations, share count n/a.

Price vs. value if growth stopped today

A cautious baseline, not a price target: what the shares may support if normalized owner earnings simply hold steady.

Above value if growth stopped todayBelow value if growth stopped today
No price data
$301M
Unavailable — insufficient owner-earnings data
Unavailable — insufficient growth-model data
$37.44
No price data

This zero-growth estimate assumes trailing owner earnings persist — unreliable for declining businesses. The recent FY revenue series does not trigger the three-consecutive-declines flag.

Among the current top-score group, the median current price is 239% above the zero-growth estimate across 48 of the current top 50 companies by Moat Score with both values.

Score records captured Jul 26, 2026.

Exactly which 50 companies?

FTNT, META, MEDP, IBEX, MSFT, GOOGL, LULU, ANF, IDXX, TXRH, FHI, QLYS, FFIV, ADBE, LLY, MANH, VEEV, GRMN, SSD, MNST, DOCS, MCO, CPRT, NTAP, LRCX, NVDA, CORT, SFM, MPTI, ULTA, SN, RMD, ROL, PAYC, IRMD, INTU, DECK, MORN, LGCY, DAL, GWW, ISRG, MPWR, CTAS, LOPE, MRK, CMG, FAST, BKNG, ORLY

Missing a usable price or zero-growth estimate: ANF, BKNG.

Model details under moat-index@3.0.0: zero-growth multiple 11.1×, capped-growth comparison at no more than 18×; 9% discount rate; high-end growth 4% (capped at 4%) using min(5y revenue CAGR, 5y diluted-EPS CAGR), clamped to 0%–4%; maintenance capex uses min(capex, D&A); abstain when D&A is unavailable. This is a disclosed model range, not intrinsic value as fact.

15 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

Element Solutions Inc booked $2.6B of revenue in FY2025 in the Materials sector and kept 42.0% of it as gross profit — a solid-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 7.5% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $731M (FY2012) to $2.6B (FY2025) — about 10.1% a year compounded over 13 years.

It earned 6.7% on invested capital in the latest filed year, FY2025. Across the full 13-year measurable filed record, median ROIC was 4.6%. Over the v3 recent window (10 measurable filed years), median ROIC was 5.1%. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 0/100.

The balance sheet carried $1.6B of total debt in FY2025 against $280M of owner earnings — roughly 5.8 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 72/100.

Put together: Capital Allocation is the strongest of the five filters (80/100) and Returns on Capital the weakest (0/100), which is how ESI lands at 53/100 — a Shallow moat.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

FY2011–FY2025 · 15 fiscal years, normalized from ESI’s SEC filings

Sales, as filed$2.6B FY2025
$0$1B$2B2011201620212025
Revenue kept after cost of goods42.0% FY2025
0%20%40%2011201620212025
Standard ROIC or separately labeled Operating ROICROIC 6.7% FY2025
0%20%40%2011201620212025
Cash an owner could take out$280M FY2025
$0$250M2011201620212025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in ESI’s filings for that year. The series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Flagship explainer

How Element Solutions Inc makes its money

Start with a dollar of revenue and follow what the filing says remains.

revenueBranching filed flows with values and percentages directly labeled. Missing filing concepts are omitted rather than estimated.Revenue$2.6B · 100%Cost of revenue$1.5B · 58%Gross profit$1.1B · 42%Operating income$342M · 13%Income before tax$266M · 10%Income tax$74.6M · 3%Net income$191M · 7%As of 2025-12-31 · 1 SEC filing sourceBuy Like Buffett · buylikebuffett.com

Honest partial: the filing did not provide a normalized tag for Research and development, Selling, general and administrative; those components are omitted, not plugged.

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of revenueSource
$2.6B100%
Cost of revenue$1.5B58%
$1.1B42%
$342M13%
Income before tax$266M10%
Income tax$74.6M3%
$191M7%
Source: · event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set
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Flagship explainer

What Element Solutions Inc owns — and owes

Element Solutions Inc's filing tags don't support a full breakdown — here's what is filed:

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of assetsSource
Total assets$5.1B100%
Cash and equivalents$627M12%
$1.6B32%
Stockholders’ equity$2.7B52%
Source: · event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Flagship explainer

What drives Element Solutions Inc’s return on equity?

ROE is five filed business factors multiplied together.

DuPont return on equity factor treeReturn on equity branches into tax burden, interest burden, operating margin, asset turnover, and the equity multiplier.Return on equity8%Tax burden72%net income ÷ pretax incomeInterest burden78%pretax ÷ operating incomeOperating margin13%operating income ÷ revenueAsset turnover0.51×revenue ÷ average assetsEquity multiplier1.97×average assets ÷ average equityAs of 2025-12-31 · 1 SEC filing sourceBuy Like Buffett · buylikebuffett.com
DuPont source inputs
InputValueFiscal yearSource
$191MFY2025
Income before tax$266MFY2025
Operating income$342MFY2025
$2.6BFY2025
Ending assets$5.1BFY2025
Beginning assets$4.9BFY2024
$2.7BFY2025
$2.4BFY2024
Source:
  • SEC filingFiling detailsAccession 0001590714-26-000018
· event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set
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Flagship explainer

Where Element Solutions Inc's cash went

Element Solutions Inc’s filing does not supply enough provenance-matched cash-flow lines for a truthful flow chart — here’s what is filed:

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of cash from operationsSource
Cash from operations$290M100%
Depreciation and amortization$151M52%
Source: · event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Curated 19-manager tier

Who reported holding Element Solutions Inc

Delayed public 13F reports for 2026-Q2—not live positions, trades, or recommendations.

0 holding0 exited1 not holding1/19 resolved18 not retrieved

Named manager positions and quarter-over-quarter changes
ManagerReported positionQuarter-over-quarterFiling accession
Markel / Markel-GaynerNo position reportedNo position reported
Abrams CapitalNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Akre CapitalNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Baupost GroupNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Berkshire HathawayNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Brave Warrior AdvisorsNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Dodge & CoxNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
First EagleNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
FundsmithNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Gardner Russo & QuinnNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Gates Foundation TrustNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Mairs & PowerNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Oakmark / Harris AssociatesNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Pershing SquareNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Polen CapitalNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Sequoia / Ruane CunniffNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Southeastern Asset ManagementNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Tweedy, BrowneNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Yacktman Asset ManagementNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved

Position size uses shares and filed value from each manager’s 13F. Portfolio weight uses the eligible long-share filing denominator. Changes compare only with the immediately preceding calendar quarter.

Source: · event Jun 30, 2026 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026

Flagship explainer

What Element Solutions Inc insiders reported

Records still being gathered — partial as of retrieval Aug 30, 2026.

Partial coverage: the incomplete Form 4 walk cannot establish no activity, an activity date, or zero counts.

Moat Score history

16 logged readings since Jul 17, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale52.8 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 17, 2026Jul 26, 2026

Breaks in the line mark methodology or normalizer upgrades — readings across versions aren’t compared, so a level shift there isn’t a change in the business.

Tier changesSame-methodology and same-normalizer crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

  1. Normalizer upgraded unstamped (version unknown)moat-xbrl-normalizer@1.1.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 26, 2026
  2. Methodology upgraded moat-index@2.0.0moat-index@3.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 23, 2026
  3. Methodology upgraded moat-index@1.2.0moat-index@2.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 20, 2026

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record cannot be reconstructed retroactively, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Insider activity

Form 4 reports mix P/S market or private transactions with compensation-plan mechanics. Activity casually described as “insider selling” can include compensation mechanics; awards, tax withholding, and option exercises are shown by their exact filed class here, never collapsed into “Bought” or “Sold.”

These are disclosed filing facts and arithmetic aggregates, not a signal or verdict.

This machine-readable surface covers SEC ownership filings from 2003; it does not represent earlier paper-era records.

Records still being gathered — partial as of retrieval Aug 30, 2026.

Trailing-12-month totals and the 90-day cluster result are withheld because this issuer walk is incomplete.

No reported Form 4 rows were captured for ESI; the incomplete walk cannot establish zero activity, zero counts, or a negative cluster result.

A filing source-event date will appear when a Form 4 row is captured.

Retrieved .

Track record

How Element Solutions Inc’s moat rated in each of the years we can reconstruct from its filings — scored only on what was knowable at the time — and what its price and returns did afterward. The score never saw a price; the two are joined only in hindsight, for education, not as a signal.

Point-in-time scores 2014–2025, one methodology version · reconstructed from filings on file each Dec 31 — never with hindsight

Point-in-time Moat Score (dot colored by tier)Indexed price (total-return (dividends reinvested))Rated Wide-moat that year

How to read this: each dot is what the engine would have scored ESI on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatPoint-in-time Moat Score100200Indexed price · log scale (2014 = 100)2014201620182020202220242026

Two tracks, one timeline: the score has its own 0–100 scale (top), the price its own 100-based scale (bottom) — never a shared axis. The price path is a total-return (dividends reinvested) index built from the same data the forward returns use; gaps in the score line are years with no reconstructed rating (see the table for why). The Table view carries every value.

What followed, in the years it rated Wide

In the reconstructed history shown, ESI did not rate Wide-moat in any year, so there is no wide-moat track record to report. That absence is itself the honest answer — we don’t manufacture a comparison where the rating never earned one.

Materials context

#85 of 309 scored Materials companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #83XAGE LONGEVITY HEALTH HOLDINGS, INC.53.0Shallow moat
  2. #84SNBRQ SLEEP NUMBER CORPORATION52.9Shallow moat
  3. #86LEGH Legacy Housing Corporation52.3Shallow moat
  4. #87HCC Warrior Met Coal, Inc.52.2Shallow moat

Compare ESI with its nearest peers →All Materials companies on the Index →

Common questions about ESI

Does Element Solutions Inc have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores Element Solutions Inc (ESI) 52.8 out of 100 — a Shallow moat. The five questions behind that score begin at 20% each; if exactly one genuinely lacks data, the other four weights are renormalized and disclosed. revenue and EPS trend 41, pricing power 70, returns on capital 0, balance-sheet safety 72, capital allocation 80.
How has ESI's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 16 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 52.8 out of 100 (shallow moat). No tier changes on record yet. (Methodology or normalizer upgrades on Jul 20, 2026, Jul 23, 2026, Jul 26, 2026 re-based the score; readings across versions aren't compared.) The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.

Scored from primary SEC filings via the public methodology. Educational only — not a recommendation to buy or sell ESI. See the disclaimer.