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SQM, Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A.

Metals & Mining capital-intensive Capital build-out

We are the world's largest producer of potassium nitrate and iodine and one of the world's largest lithium producers.

Our products are sold in over 100 countries through our worldwide distribution network, with 96.5% of our sales in 2025 derived from countries outside Chile.

Our products are mainly derived from mineral deposits found in northern Chile.

Latest annual: FY2024 20-F · 1 ADS = 1 ordinary share

SQM · Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A.

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2024

$4.5B

−39.4% YoY · 18% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $4.5B 5-yr avg $5.5B

Gross margin 29% 5-yr avg 38%

Operating margin 23.5% 5-yr avg 32.5%

Owner-earnings margin 21% 5-yr avg 14%

Free cash flow margin 7% 5-yr avg 5%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

Situation: Capital build-out. Capital spending has surged to 21% of sales, today's earnings are charged less depreciation than tomorrow's will be.
What moves the needle: Gross margin has run about 32% and operating margin about 24% through the cycle, a solid spread between what it charges and what the product costs to make. The operating margin has swung widely — from 17% to 52% over the years — so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year, and the worst year more than the best. Inventory runs near 41% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. Read this kind of business on the commodity price and the cost position. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2015–2024

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2015’15	2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	TTMTTMDec 2024
											Income statement
$1.7B	$1.9B	$2.2B	$2.3B	$1.9B	$1.8B	$2.9B	$10.7B	$7.5B	$4.5B	$4.5B	RevenueRevenue
31%	32%	35%	34%	29%	27%	38%	54%	41%	29%	29%	Gross marginGross mgn
$369M	$449M	$618M	$667M	$434M	$303M	$927M	$5.5B	$2.8B	$1.1B	$1.1B	Operating incomeOp. inc.
21.3%	23.1%	28.6%	29.4%	22.3%	16.6%	32.4%	51.6%	38.1%	23.5%	23.5%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$220M	$278M	$428M	$440M	$278M	$165M	$585M	$3.9B	$923M	$685M	$685M	Net incomeNet inc.
28%	32%	28%	29%	28%	30%	30%	29%	—	29%	29%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$427M	$634M	$758M	$525M	$427M	$182M	$823M	$4.1B	($197M)	$1.3B	$1.3B	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$272M	$250M	$241M	$221M	$201M	$204M	$214M	$244M	$281M	$342M	$342M	DepreciationDeprec.
$479M	$106M	$90M	($136M)	($52M)	($186M)	$23M	($73M)	($1.4B)	$247M	$247M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$111M	$131M	$142M	$245M	$321M	$322M	$465M	$905M	$1.1B	$972M	$972M	CapexCapex
6.4%	6.8%	6.6%	10.8%	16.5%	17.7%	16.2%	8.5%	14.8%	21.5%	21.5%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$316M	$502M	$616M	$280M	$226M	($22M)	$608M	$3.8B	($477M)	$932M	$932M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
18.3%	25.9%	28.6%	12.4%	11.6%	−1.2%	21.3%	35.8%	−6.4%	20.6%	20.6%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$316M	$502M	$616M	$280M	$106M	($140M)	$358M	$3.2B	($1.3B)	$303M	$303M	Free cash flowFCF
18.3%	25.9%	28.6%	12.4%	5.4%	−7.7%	12.5%	29.6%	−17.4%	6.7%	6.7%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$127M	$399M	$374M	$550M	$330M	$222M	$572M	$2.2B	$1.5B	$67M	$67M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
9%	12%	20%	21%	13%	8%	18%	80%	21%	13%	13%	Return on equityROE
4%	−5%	2%	−5%	−2%	−3%	0%	34%	−12%	12%	12%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$527M	$799M	$991M	$869M	$1.1B	$857M	$2.4B	$3.6B	$2.4B	$2.5B	$1.7B	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
—	$369M	$447M	$467M	$399M	$365M	$654M	$1.1B	$907M	$606M	$606M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$1.0B	$993M	$902M	$914M	$983M	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.8B	$1.8B	$1.7B	$1.7B	InventoryInvent.
—	$200M	$196M	$164M	$206M	$204M	$280M	$375M	$450M	$471M	$471M	Accounts payablePayables
$1.0B	$1.2B	$1.2B	$1.2B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.6B	$2.5B	$2.2B	$1.8B	$1.8B	Operating working capitalOper. WC
—	$153M	$2.5B	$2.4B	$2.7B	$2.6B	$4.6B	$7.0B	$5.9B	$5.6B	$5.6B	Current assetsCur. assets
—	$580M	$748M	$556M	$777M	$476M	$992M	$3.1B	$2.5B	$2.2B	$2.2B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
—	0.3×	3.3×	4.3×	3.5×	5.4×	4.6×	2.3×	2.3×	2.5×	2.5×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$38M	$38M	$38M	$35M	$35M	$42M	$35M	$967K	$958K	$948K	$948K	GoodwillGoodwill
$4.6B	$4.2B	$4.3B	$4.3B	$4.7B	$4.8B	$7.2B	$10.8B	$10.8B	$11.5B	$11.5B	Total assetsAssets
5.3×	7.8×	12.3×	11.5×	5.6×	3.7×	11.0×	63.8×	20.6×	5.4×	5.4×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$2.4B	$2.2B	$2.2B	$2.1B	$2.1B	$2.1B	$3.2B	$4.9B	$4.4B	$5.2B	$5.2B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
											Per share
6.6M	6.6M	6.6M	6.6M	6.6M	6.6M	7.0M	7.1M	7.1M	7.1M	7.1M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$262.67	$294.73	$327.86	$344.35	$295.39	$276.17	$411.61	$1499.88	$1045.73	$634.20	$634.40	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$33.49	$42.29	$65.00	$66.84	$42.27	$25.00	$84.19	$547.03	$129.28	$95.94	$95.97	EPS (diluted)EPS
$48.03	$76.36	$93.64	$42.58	$34.29	$-3.29	$87.47	$536.78	$-66.86	$130.55	$130.59	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$48.03	$76.36	$93.64	$42.58	$16.06	$-21.28	$51.45	$444.25	$-182.08	$42.42	$42.43	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$19.35	$60.70	$56.83	$83.64	$50.12	$33.74	$82.21	$313.46	$206.00	$9.41	$9.42	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$16.92	$19.95	$21.60	$37.19	$48.83	$48.97	$66.83	$126.77	$154.54	$136.09	$136.13	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$364.80	$341.35	$332.50	$316.95	$317.07	$322.66	$457.51	$685.71	$621.93	$722.71	$722.94	Book value / shareBVPS

Share counts before TTM are restated ×1/40 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+10.3%/yr	+16.5%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+11.8%/yr	+30.7%/yr
EPS	+12.4%/yr	+17.8%/yr
Dividends / share	−7.7%/yr	−28.4%/yr
Capital spending / share	+26.1%/yr	+22.7%/yr
Book value / share	+7.9%/yr	+17.9%/yr

The record, charted

FY2015–2024

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

286Mpeak FY2022

Gross margin

29%low FY2020

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$932Mowner earningsvs.$685Mnet incomelow FY2023

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2015FY2024

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2020–FY2024cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2024 the business earned $932M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $342M it takes just to hold its position. It put $629M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was $303M.

Reported net income$685M

Owner earnings$932M · 21% of revenue

	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021	FY2020
Reported net income	$685M	$923M	$3.9B	$585M	$165M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$342M	+$281M	+$244M	+$214M	+$204M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	+$247M	−$1.4B	−$73M	+$23M	−$186M
Cash from operations	$1.3B	($197M)	$4.1B	$823M	$182M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$342M	−$281M	−$244M	−$214M	−$204M
Owner earnings	$932M	($477M)	$3.8B	$608M	($22M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	−$629M	−$823M	−$661M	−$250M	−$118M
Free cash flow	$303M	($1.3B)	$3.2B	$358M	($140M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	21%	-6%	36%	21%	-1%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $342M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $629M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2024 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? 5.4×

Comfortable

Operating income $1.1B ÷ interest expense $198M

What this means
Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? —

Debt under-captured — leverage unknown, not low

What this means
This company pays far more interest than its tagged debt implies (the rest sits under segment dimensions the data source strips), so its net cash or net debt cannot be read honestly: the gap is unknown, not zero, and 'net cash' here would be exactly the fiction the figure is meant to prevent. Judge it on the record and owner earnings instead.
How long is cash tied up? 189d

Long (60+ days)

DSO 49 + DIO 194 − DPO 54 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital —

Debt under-captured

Industry peers: median 8%

What this means
This company's interest bill implies far more debt than its filings tag at the consolidated level (the rest sits under segment dimensions the data source strips), so invested capital, and the return on it, cannot be read honestly. Judge this one on Owner Earnings and the record instead.
Owner-earnings margin 18%

High through the cycle

10-yr median margin, range -6%–36%; latest $932M = operating cash $1.3B − maintenance capex $342M

Industry peers: median 4%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 21% of revenue this year, a 18% median across 10 years. It chose to put $629M more into growth, so free cash flow this year was $303M — the gap is investment, not weakness.
Are earnings backed by cash? 1.86×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $1.3B ÷ net income $685M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? 7%

Reinvests most of it

Dividends + buybacks $67M ÷ Owner Earnings $932M

What this means
Of $932M Owner Earnings, $67M (7%) went back to shareholders, $67M dividends, $0 buybacks. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.
Investing or harvesting? 2.84×

Expanding

Capex $972M ÷ depreciation $342M

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 5 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Pass

Revenue ≥ $2B · $4.5B

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Pass

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 2.51×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt —

Debt ≤ working capital · —

What this means
The filings tag only a fraction of the debt this company's interest bill implies (much of it sits under segment dimensions the data source strips), so this test can't be run honestly.
Earnings stability Pass

A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Pass

Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +495%

What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $6.44/share (latest year $2.40), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $18.07/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2015–2024

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 10 of 10

What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
Operating margin 24% → 38% (3-yr avg ends)

In the filing’s words The record and the words agree: the margin widened and the filing attributes the gain to its own pricing, not volume alone.

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 24% early to 38% lately, median 24% — pricing power intact or improving.
Owner earnings growth −6%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings shrank about 6% a year over the record.
Worst year 2020 · 16.6% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count +0.9%/yr

What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
Dividend record paid

What this means
Paid a dividend in 10 of the years on record.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2024

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$5.6B

Cash & short-term investments$1.7B
Receivables$606M
Inventory$1.7B
Other current assets$1.5B

Current liabilities$2.2B

Debt due within a year$199K
Accounts payable$471M
Other current liabilities$1.7B

Current ratio2.51×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio1.75×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.78×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$3.4Bthe cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$199K due · $1.7B cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Dec 31, 2024 balance sheet

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$5.0Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value($719M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$107M$38M of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2015–2024

Over the record, the business generated $8.9B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash returner, paying most of what it earns straight back to owners.

Reinvested$4.7B · 53%
Dividends$6.4B · 71%

Returned to owners$6.4B
93% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $6.4B as dividends and $0 as buybacks.
Source of funding−$2.1B
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $2.1B beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet.
Net change in share count8.5%
The diluted count rose from 7M to 7M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record$9.41/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 8% a year. It was cut at least once along the way.
Return on what it retained61%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($1.6B over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $951M, so each retained $1 added about 0.61 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2015–2024.

2 of the 4 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.

Look hereIs it less profitable than it was?16.7% vs 24.3%
The owner-earnings margin averaged 24.3% early in the record and 16.7% across the last three years, and the latest year has not recovered. Ask the filing whether that is a structural drift or a cyclical trough — price, mix, cost, or a competitor — and whether it is permanent.
Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?8.5%
Diluted shares grew 8.5% over 2015–2024. Owners were diluted on net; each share owns less of the business than it did. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.

And these came back clean

Did reported profit become cash?
Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

How much of the revenue rides on one buyer?
≈$1.1B · 24% of revenue on the largest customers (TTM)
“The 10 largest customers collectively accounted for approximately 24% of sales during that period.”verify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Metals & Mining

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
VMCVulcan Materials Company	$7.9B	26%	18.3%	8%	11%
MLMMartin Marietta Materials Inc.	$6.2B	25%	19.1%	9%	13%
SQMSociedad Quimica y Minera S.A.	$4.5B	33%	26.1%	28%	19%
KNFKnife Riv Holding Co.	$3.1B	18%	9.1%	13%	4%
MDUMDU Resources Group, Inc.	$1.9B	—	9.9%	5%	-0%
HLHecla Mining Company	$1.4B	22%	10.0%	-0%	2%
CMPCompass Minerals Intl Inc	$1.2B	—	8.3%	4%	4%
USLMUnited States Lime & Minerals Inc.	$373M	30%	22.1%	21%	18%
Group median	—	25%	14.1%	8%	7%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Enter the US price, in dollars: the NYSE/Nasdaq quote you hold. Per the filing's own cover, “American depositary shares, each representing one series B common”; Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. reports in USD, so every figure in this tool is stated per ADS so your dollar quote reconciles exactly. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed.

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has delivered.

Today’s price $

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($725M) Net of stock comp Steady-state · maintenance capex ($932M)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’20→’24−6%/yr

Owner-earnings growth, delivered—

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’22–’24)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Free cash flow $303M on 286M shares outstanding (a weighted average, the only count this filer tags); net cash $1.7B. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($972M) runs well above depreciation ($342M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $932M, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh SQM against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (SQM), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/SQM, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← SPPL its page in the Manual SRAD →

Industry order: ← SGML the Metals & Mining chapter SSRM →