NL Industries, Inc. (NL) Stock

NL Industries, Inc. (NL) is a Materials stock trading at $6.86 (as of 2026-09-02), with a market capitalization of $335.20M. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

NL Industries, Inc., through CompX International Inc., designs and sells locking solutions including mechanical and electronic cabinet locks and related locking mechanisms. It also produces and sells automotive exhaust components and certain vehicle-related parts and accessories, serving customers in the U.S. and internationally.

Understand NL Industries, Inc.: how it makes money

NL Industries makes mechanical and electronic locks (disc tumbler, pin tumbler, and electronic mechanisms) sold into ignitions, file cabinets, mailboxes, vending machines, and cash-containment applications. The business is a single-segment micro-cap where CompX is effectively the whole company, and demand tracks end-use cycles in industrial storage, vending, and automotive aftermarket.

Profit comes from engineering-led lock mechanisms (disc tumbler, electronic) that command a niche premium over commodity hardware, but the entire P&L rides on one product family with no geographic or category diversification.

Business quality (Weak): A single-product micro-cap with essentially flat revenue, a thin operating margin, and negative ROE. The engineering in the lock designs is real but the scale and growth profile are minimal.

Bull case

  • Lock Design Yields Margin Buffer: A 33% gross margin in a fragmented lock market reflects the engineering differentiation in disc-tumbler and electronic lock mechanisms, giving NL modest pricing protection versus commodity hardware suppliers. (10-K)

Bear case

  • Ten Percent Leaves No Cushion: Operating margin at 10% on a flat-revenue micro-cap means a modest rise in steel or electronic-component costs, or a soft patch in vending and industrial storage demand, can compress earnings sharply. (10-K)
Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price$6.86
Market Cap$335.20M
EV / EBITDA15.3
Price / Book0.89
Price / Sales2.11
FCF Yield-12.0%
DCF Value (model)$2.71
DCF Upside vs Price-60.5%
Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)$158.28M
Net Margin-23.9%
Revenue Growth (YoY)0.7%
EPS Growth (YoY)800.0%
FCF Growth (YoY)-91.8%
Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score3.83 (safe)
Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Sector P/E (Materials)23.9
Industry P/E (Chemicals)32.1
Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional HolderDIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP ($12.18M)
Institutional Holders Tracked10
Company
SectorMaterials
IndustryChemicals
CEOCourtney J. Riley
Employees3,034
CountryUS
IPO Date1980-03-17

Related Companies (Chemicals; 8 comparable chemical companies)

  • Luxfer Holdings PLC (LXFR)
  • LSB Industries, Inc. (LXU)
  • Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NRP)
  • Gold Resource Corporation (GORO)
  • Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (KRO)
  • i-80 Gold Corp. (IAUX)
  • NACCO Industries, Inc. (NC)
  • Minerals Technologies Inc. (MTX)
NL earnings history · NL institutional & insider holders · NL KPIs & operating metrics · NL financials · NL investor presentations & press releases · NL SEC filings · NL peers · Congress trades · Insider trades · Short interest · Stock screener

Data as of 2026-09-02.

Figures sourced from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR) filings and market data. Not personalized investment advice.