STEPAN CO
Stepan Company, trading as SCL on the NASDAQ, operates as a global specialty and intermediate chemicals manufacturer serving diverse industrial and consumer markets. The company's website is www.stepan.com. Founded in 1959 and incorporated in Delaware, Stepan produces chemical agents and compounds that enable critical… From the company’s description.
Margins and return on equity change in ; everything else in percent. Fewer shares and less debt are shown plainly, not as bad news — it depends what you make of buybacks. Dotted labels explain each measure. is shown separately from the annual figures.
What STEPAN CO does
In the company’s own words
Stepan Company, trading as SCL on the NASDAQ, operates as a global specialty and intermediate chemicals manufacturer serving diverse industrial and consumer markets. The company's website is www.stepan.com. Founded in 1959 and incorporated in Delaware, Stepan produces chemical agents and compounds that enable critical functionality across numerous end-use applications.
The company operates through three reportable segments: Surfactants, Polymers, and Specialty Products. Surfactants represent the company's core business, functioning as cleaning agents and performance modifiers in detergents, personal care products, cosmetics, and industrial applications including agricultural emulsifiers and oilfield chemicals. The Polymers segment manufactures polyurethane polyols for rigid foam insulation in construction, polyester resins for coatings and adhesives, and phthalic anhydride used in various resin and plasticizer applications. The Specialty Products segment focuses on chemicals for food, flavoring, nutritional supplement, and pharmaceutical applications.
Stepan maintains manufacturing operations across multiple continents, with significant facilities in the United States including locations in Illinois, Georgia, and Texas. The company employed 2,328 persons as of December 31, 2025. The company does not sell directly to retail consumers but rather supplies manufacturers across construction, consumer products, automotive, and industrial sectors.
The company positions itself as one of the world's leading merchant producers of surfactants, competing against both large multinational chemical companies and regional specialists. Stepan's competitive strategy emphasizes product performance, technical assistance, customer-specific solutions, and manufacturing capacity reliability rather than competing solely on price. The company maintains contracts covering most forecasted raw material requirements for 2026, with principal inputs being petroleum-based and plant-based materials.
Stepan's operations require substantial capital investment in manufacturing infrastructure and comply with extensive environmental, health, and safety regulations across multiple jurisdictions, including REACH in Europe and TSCA in the United States. The company maintains ISO 9001:2015 certification across all facilities and participates in the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care program, reflecting its commitment to safety and responsible chemicals management throughout its supply chain and operations.
Company details
- Sector
- Materials
- Industry
- Chemicals
- Headquarters
- NORTHFIELD, IL
- Fiscal year end
- December
- CIK
- 94049
- SIC
- 2840
Financial performance, year by year
Fiscal 2013–2025 · USDThe full income statement, balance sheet and cash flow for each of these years — every figure traceable to its filing — is on the Financials tab with a free account.
Who owns STEPAN CO — and what changed
Funds as of 2026Q2 · superinvestors as of 2026-06-30
Largest fund holders · STEPAN CO’s weight in each
Fund ownership is a floor, not a census — pensions, insurers and people holding shares directly are not visible here.
Fund ownership counts N-PORT filers only, so it is a floor rather than a census — pensions, insurers and direct holders are not visible here, and the remainder is not “held by individuals”.
Every fund and institutional holder, quarter by quarter, is on the Ownership tab with a free account.
Recent filings
All filings →Each filing opens into its own statements and disclosures here.
Put this business in context.
Compare this company with peers, find it in your funds and follow its financial history with your connected AI:
- “How do STEPAN CO and its peers compare on margins and cash generation over ten years?”
- “Where did five years of STEPAN CO's earnings go — cash, debt, buybacks, reinvestment?”
- “What changed in STEPAN CO's last four quarterly filings that the numbers alone won't show?”