Should I Buy SCL? SCL 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Stepan Co (SCL) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

62.730

1 Day change

1.62%

52 Week Range

64.670

Analysis Updated At

2026/01/30

Should I buy Analysis is updated weekly. For real time "Should I Buy" analysis, please sign up to get free answers.

SCL is not a good buy right now for an impatient investor. The stock is extended/overbought near resistance after a bullish run (RSI_6 ~85 and price sitting just below R1), while the latest reported quarter showed solid revenue growth but a sharp profitability drop. Despite a fresh analyst upgrade to Buy with a $75 target and supportive options positioning (put/call OI < 1), the current setup looks more like a late-stage chase than an attractive entry.

Technical Analysis

Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals

AI Stock Picker: No signal on given stock today.
SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

Trend/Levels: The trend is bullish (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200), but momentum is stretched.

RSI_6 = 85.397: strongly overbought; odds favor consolidation/pullback rather than a clean immediate continuation.
MACD histogram = 0.376 (above 0) and contracting: still positive trend, but upside momentum is decelerating.
Key levels: Pivot 54.246; R1 56.979 (current 56.91 is essentially testing this resistance), R2 58.667; Support S1 51.512.
Pattern-based forward bias: model suggests ~60% chance of about -6.45% over the next month, which aligns with an overbought/near-resistance setup. Overall: bullish longer-term structure, but tactically overheated at current price.

Options Data

Bullish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Options positioning is modestly bullish:

Open interest put/call = 0.55: more call OI than puts, typically a bullish/less defensive stance.
Volume put/call = 0.0 with call volume (181) and essentially no put volume: one-sided flow toward calls today (can be bullish, but also can indicate crowded short-term optimism).
Implied volatility: IV 30d ~54.3 with IV percentile ~85.6 (elevated). This implies options are pricing in relatively larger moves and can reflect heightened event/earnings anticipation; it also means options are expensive. Sentiment read: bullish skew, but elevated IV + overbought technicals suggests near-term expectations may already be optimistic.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

indicates constructive intermediate/longer-term trend.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

could punish the stock if guidance stays conservative or margins remain pressured.

Financial Performance

Latest provided quarter: 2025/Q3.

Revenue: 590.284M, +7.94% YoY (top-line growth positive).
Net income: 10.839M, -54.08% YoY.
EPS: 0.47, -54.37% YoY.
Gross margin: 12.03, down ~13.08% YoY. Takeaway: the company is growing sales, but margin/earnings compression is severe. The stock will likely need evidence of margin stabilization/recovery to sustain a strong rally from here.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent trend: more bullish. On 2026-01-23, Seaport Research upgraded Stepan (SCL) to Buy from Neutral and set a $75 price target.

Wall Street-style pros vs cons based on provided data:

Pros: fresh upgrade and clear upside target vs current price; revenue growth in the latest quarter; bullish longer-term technical trend.
Cons: earnings/margins are trending worse YoY; technicals are overbought at resistance (risk of near-term pullback); upcoming earnings could be a binary catalyst.

Politicians/congress/influential trading: No recent congress trading data available and no notable politician activity provided. Hedge funds/insiders: Neutral with no significant recent trends.

Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast SCL stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for SCL is 0 USD with a low forecast of 0 USD and a high forecast of 0 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

Buy

Hold

Sell

Current: 61.730

Low

Averages

High

Current: 61.730

Low

Averages

High

Seaport Research

Michael Harrison

Neutral -> Buy

upgrade

$75

AI Analysis

2026-01-23

Reason

Seaport Research

Michael Harrison

Price Target

$75

AI Analysis

2026-01-23

upgrade

Neutral -> Buy

Reason

As previously reported, Seaport Research analyst Michael Harrison upgraded Stepan (SCL) to Buy from Neutral with a $75 price target and downgraded Axalta Coating (AXTA), Entegris (ENTG), Quaker Houghton (KWR) and Materion (MTRN) all to Neutral with no price targets as part of a preview for 17 companies in the firm's chemical coverage reporting earnings in the coming weeks. The firm, which thinks Q4 ended with "more of the same" sluggish and mixed demand, leaving most companies pointing to a slow start to 2026, made "mostly modest changes" to its estimates and anticipates fairly conservative guidance, the analyst tells investors.

Seaport Research

Neutral -> Buy

upgrade

$75

2026-01-23

Reason

Seaport Research

Price Target

$75

2026-01-23

upgrade

Neutral -> Buy

Reason

Seaport Research upgraded Stepan to Buy from Neutral with a $75 price target.

Unlock Full Analyst Thesis， Get the complete breakdown of rating reason for SCL

Unlock Now

SCL Should I Buy

SCL Should I Buy

Should You Buy Stepan Co (SCL) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

People Also Watch