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International Flavors & Fragrances IFF

International Flavors & Fragrances scores weak on business quality (3.5 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.

Last price$84.55Oct 9, 2026
Business qualityWeak
Next earningsNov 2, 2026, after the close
Insiders, 90 daysSelling

Why it matters

  1. What International Flavors & Fragrances does

    International Flavors & Fragrances creates proprietary taste, scent, and nutrition formulas sold to global consumer goods manufacturers. Revenue relies on embedding these ingredients into everyday food and personal care brands.

  2. What it does best

    IFF commands deep formulation partnerships with major consumer brands, anchoring its scale with a gross margin of 37.5%. These complex taste and scent profiles take years to develop and validate, creating high switching costs that protect core volume.

  3. The main risk

    Heavy debt loads remain a primary vulnerability, carrying total debt of $6.0 billion against a net income of $290 million. Servicing these obligations limits operational flexibility if revenue contraction persists across key segments.

Quality, check by check

Scored against its own industry, from company filings.

ProfitabilityWeak

Operating margins rest at 8.0% with a net margin of 2.9%, reflecting compressed returns across the portfolio. Scale fails to drive wider margins currently, as demonstrated by a low ROE of 2.1%.

MoatFair

Customer switching costs form the primary moat, locking in global consumer brands that rely on proprietary formulations. Despite this, a revenue growth percentile of 17 shows the moat struggles to generate actual expansion.

GrowthSlow

Revenue is contracting at a 5.2% rate, extending a multi-year decline from $12.4 billion in 2022 down to $10.0 billion. The historical top-line trend shows persistent fading momentum across core segments.

Financial healthFair

Debt-to-equity sits at 0.4x with interest coverage at 4.3x, leaving tight room for error. Free cash flow of $536 million supports dividends of $409 million, but overall financial flexibility stays constrained by leverage.

Insiders

Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.

3 sold $1.3M outside pre-planned sales.

Our sealed record on IFF

Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.

The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.

Questions

Is IFF a good business?

International Flavors & Fragrances scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (3.5 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth slow and financial health fair.

Are insiders buying IFF?

In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 3 sold $1.3M outside pre-planned sales.

When does IFF report earnings?

Nov 2, 2026, after the close.

For members

See IFF today

  • Today's verdict on IFF, and why
  • Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
  • The exact price that would change the verdict
  • Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
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Cite this page: Cluenex, “International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/iff/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.