TacticScaleWhat Element Solutions Does & How It Makes Money (ESI)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Element Solutions's latest reported financials
Specialty chemicals maker for electronics and industrial surface finishing. It sells consumable chemical formulations and materials to manufacturers, which use them in their production processes.
How Element Solutions makes money
It sells consumable chemical formulations and materials to manufacturers, which use them in their production processes. It earns revenue across two segments, electronics (MacDermid Alpha) and industrial and energy specialties.
What Element Solutions does
Element Solutions Inc is a specialty chemicals technology company headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida, with operations in the United States, China and internationally. It traces its roots to 1785, was formerly called Platform Specialty Products Corporation, and took its current name in January 2019. Its largest area of focus is electronics: the MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions segment supplies assembly materials, circuit board chemistry and semiconductor packaging materials to makers of mobile devices, computers, automobiles and aerospace equipment. The Element Specialties segment provides industrial surface-treatment chemistry, including electroless nickel, plating, cleaning, conversion coatings and water treatment, plus offshore fluids for energy customers. It serves the aerospace, automotive, construction, consumer electronics and oil and gas markets. The company sells chemicals that are used up in customers' manufacturing processes, so its results are closely tied to production volumes in electronics and industrial manufacturing.
Products & services
- MacDermid Alpha assembly materials (solder pastes, fluxes, thermal management materials)
- Circuit board metallization and surface finishes
- Semiconductor assembly and wafer level packaging materials
- Electroless nickel and plating products
- Pre-treatment, cleaning and conversion coatings
- Offshore fluids for oil and gas production
What is Element Solutions worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Element Solutions's most-likely value is about $14 versus a recent price near $36 (62% above fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$8) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
⚠ High leverage — net debt is 8.4× annual cash flow. Net debt is subtracted from this fair value, but refinancing at higher rates, principal timing, and share dilution aren’t modeled — the equity can be worth far less if cash flow weakens.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
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