Top Basic Materials Stocks by Gross Margin
Top basic materials companies ranked by gross margin, latest annual filings.
What Gross Margin Means for Basic Materials Companies
Gross margin in basic materials is the spread between realized commodity prices and the direct cost of extracting, smelting, or processing the output. Miners, chemical producers, steelmakers, and paper-and-packaging firms all sit in this sector and share a common trait: they market largely undifferentiated products whose prices are set by global markets. That makes ore grades, energy inputs, and plant utilization the primary drivers of how much margin survives direct production costs.
Why It Matters in Basic Materials
Gross margin in this sector is a read on ore quality, operational efficiency, and input-cost positioning. A producer with richer ore, lower-cost feedstock access, or newer integrated facilities earns a wider spread at any given commodity price. It is worth noting that reported gross margin is extremely sensitive to the price cycle, and also that inventory accounting, byproduct credits, and royalty structures differ across firms, which complicates like-for-like peer comparison.
What to Read Alongside
Pair gross margin with Revenue to size the commodity-cycle backdrop, Operating Margin to include corporate overhead, and Free Cash Flow because capital intensity varies enormously across mining, chemicals, and paper subsectors.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RGLD | Royal Gold, Inc. | Basic Materials | 69.32% | $21.19B |
| 2 | NEM | Newmont Corporation | Basic Materials | 64.33% | $129.66B |
| 3 | SSRM | SSR Mining Inc. | Basic Materials | 59.91% | $7.47B |
| 4 | SHW | The Sherwin-Williams Company | Basic Materials | 48.85% | $78.00B |
| 5 | LIN | Linde plc | Basic Materials | 48.83% | $210.90B |
| 6 | CTVA | Corteva, Inc. | Basic Materials | 47.29% | $52.78B |
| 7 | SSD | Simpson Manufacturing Co., Inc. | Basic Materials | 45.85% | $7.12B |
| 8 | ECL | Ecolab Inc. | Basic Materials | 44.46% | $75.68B |
| 9 | HL | Hecla Mining Company | Basic Materials | 43.72% | $12.33B |
| 10 | ESI | Element Solutions Inc | Basic Materials | 41.96% | $8.14B |
| 11 | RPM | RPM International Inc. | Basic Materials | 41.44% | $12.64B |
| 12 | PPG | PPG Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | 41.32% | $23.33B |
| 13 | NGVT | Ingevity Corporation | Basic Materials | 39.53% | $2.37B |
| 14 | CF | CF Industries Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | 38.45% | $18.66B |
| 15 | IFF | International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. | Basic Materials | 36.16% | $21.33B |
| 16 | CRH | CRH plc | Basic Materials | 36.13% | $57.97B |
| 17 | KWR | Quaker Chemical Corporation | Basic Materials | 35.97% | $2.67B |
| 18 | JHX | James Hardie Industries plc | Basic Materials | 35.77% | $15.47B |
| 19 | BCPC | Balchem Corporation | Basic Materials | 35.74% | $5.33B |
| 20 | DD | DuPont de Nemours, Inc. | Basic Materials | 34.50% | $17.35B |
| 21 | AXTA | Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. | Basic Materials | 34.43% | $6.82B |
| 22 | SXT | Sensient Technologies Corporation | Basic Materials | 33.45% | $5.52B |
| 23 | SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | 32.17% | $9.16B |
| 24 | NEU | NewMarket Corporation | Basic Materials | 31.46% | $8.14B |
| 25 | APD | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. | Basic Materials | 31.41% | $62.23B |
| 26 | AVNT | Avient Corporation | Basic Materials | 31.15% | $3.71B |
| 27 | FUL | H.B. Fuller Company | Basic Materials | 31.11% | $2.67B |
| 28 | MLM | Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. | Basic Materials | 30.72% | $35.49B |
| 29 | SMG | The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company | Basic Materials | 30.59% | $2.99B |
| 30 | WLKP | Westlake Chemical Partners LP | Basic Materials | 29.81% | $0.75B |
| 31 | RS | Reliance, Inc. | Basic Materials | 28.74% | $19.64B |
| 32 | EXP | Eagle Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | 28.27% | $5.50B |
| 33 | IOSP | Innospec Inc. | Basic Materials | 27.69% | $2.28B |
| 34 | VMC | Vulcan Materials Company | Basic Materials | 27.38% | $31.90B |
| 35 | AMRZ | Amrize Ltd | Basic Materials | 25.68% | $21.11B |
| 36 | CBT | Cabot Corporation | Basic Materials | 25.32% | $3.95B |
| 37 | HCC | Warrior Met Coal, Inc. | Basic Materials | 25.01% | $4.67B |
| 38 | MTX | Minerals Technologies Inc. | Basic Materials | 24.99% | $2.08B |
| 39 | KOP | Koppers Holdings Inc. | Basic Materials | 23.83% | $0.86B |
| 40 | HWKN | Hawkins, Inc. | Basic Materials | 22.61% | $2.62B |
| 41 | SLVM | Sylvamo Corporation | Basic Materials | 21.93% | $1.44B |
| 42 | EMN | Eastman Chemical Company | Basic Materials | 21.07% | $7.44B |
| 43 | CE | Celanese Corporation | Basic Materials | 20.45% | $4.87B |
| 44 | OEC | Orion S.A. | Basic Materials | 19.91% | $0.34B |
| 45 | KNF | Knife River Corporation | Basic Materials | 18.35% | $3.15B |
| 46 | MATV | Mativ Holdings, Inc. | Basic Materials | 18.26% | $0.67B |
| 47 | MTRN | Materion Corporation | Basic Materials | 17.27% | $5.30B |
| 48 | AA | Alcoa Corporation | Basic Materials | 16.94% | $11.78B |
| 49 | UFPI | UFP Industries, Inc. | Basic Materials | 16.77% | $4.43B |
| 50 | BCC | Boise Cascade Company | Basic Materials | 16.46% | $2.64B |
| 51 | MOS | The Mosaic Company | Basic Materials | 15.78% | $7.65B |
| 52 | CC | The Chemours Company | Basic Materials | 15.53% | $2.19B |
| 53 | CMP | Compass Minerals International, Inc. | Basic Materials | 15.33% | $0.99B |
| 54 | VHI | Valhi, Inc. | Basic Materials | 14.22% | $0.48B |
| 55 | CSTM | Constellium SE | Basic Materials | 14.05% | $3.46B |
| 56 | HUN | Huntsman Corporation | Basic Materials | 13.21% | $1.55B |
| 57 | STLD | Steel Dynamics, Inc. | Basic Materials | 13.16% | $32.96B |
| 58 | KALU | Kaiser Aluminum Corporation | Basic Materials | 13.12% | $2.47B |
| 59 | ALB | Albemarle Corporation | Basic Materials | 13.00% | $13.33B |
| 60 | NUE | Nucor Corporation | Basic Materials | 11.93% | $54.99B |
| 61 | WS | Worthington Steel, Inc. | Basic Materials | 11.71% | $1.70B |
| 62 | SCL | Stepan Company | Basic Materials | 11.57% | $1.41B |
| 63 | KRO | Kronos Worldwide, Inc. | Basic Materials | 11.46% | $0.93B |
| 64 | ASIX | AdvanSix Inc. | Basic Materials | 10.84% | $0.44B |
| 65 | CENX | Century Aluminum Company | Basic Materials | 10.14% | $3.87B |
| 66 | AMR | Alpha Metallurgical Resources, Inc. | Basic Materials | 9.62% | $2.23B |
| 67 | TROX | Tronox Holdings plc | Basic Materials | 9.28% | $0.69B |
| 68 | LYB | LyondellBasell Industries N.V. | Basic Materials | 8.55% | $19.46B |
| 69 | MTUS | Metallus Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.21% | $0.77B |
| 70 | RYAM | Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. | Basic Materials | 8.10% | $0.57B |
| 71 | CLW | Clearwater Paper Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.43% | $0.34B |
| 72 | OLN | Olin Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.40% | $1.89B |
| 73 | WLK | Westlake Corporation | Basic Materials | 7.28% | $8.66B |
| 74 | GPRE | Green Plains Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.55% | $1.04B |
| 75 | DOW | Dow Inc. | Basic Materials | 6.34% | $20.42B |
| 76 | CLMT | Calumet, Inc. | Basic Materials | 5.94% | $5.11B |
| 77 | TSE | Trinseo PLC | Basic Materials | 5.58% | $0.01B |
| 78 | MERC | Mercer International Inc. | Basic Materials | 4.93% | $0.02B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by gross margin as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $1 billion in annual revenue or above, so a small filer with a freak ratio cannot top the list.
- Value range: Only figures above 0% and up to 100% qualify.
- Cost-classification check: A company whose gross margin runs more than 70 points above its operating margin is left out, because at that gap the split between cost of sales and operating cost is a reporting convention rather than a margin.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.