NL Industries Inc (NL)
🔔 Watch stock
The stock trades below book value, yields more than 6 percent and sits on a pile of cash. Sounds like the bargain you have been waiting for. The filings with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC, tell a different story: NL Industries has no employees of its own, its reported earnings are set by a company it only owns 31 percent of — that stake cost $33.9 million in 2025 and pushed the group to a $37.8 million loss — and the payout comes from dividends other companies wire in. Since May 26, 2026 the company has been called NLI Holdings, is incorporated in Delaware and has opted out of the statutory anti-takeover protection, while its majority holder owns 83 percent. Not investment advice — just the question of why a discount sometimes lasts for decades.
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Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
–Not yet rated — we only show a category once an SEC-backed file with at least two cited passages is available. How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.34 | 118.10 | 38 | -11.00 | 43.10 | 9 | 9 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.01 | -90.20 | 40 | 6.10 | 1.70 | -48 | -48 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.01 | -95.50 | 40 | 12.50 | 0.90 | 7 | 6 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.16 | -121.90 | 40 | 18.70 | -19.70 | 8 | 7 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.63 | -287.20 | 38 | -1.90 | -82.20 | -4 | -5 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.09 | 551.30 | 41 | 0.70 | 10.70 | -4 | -4 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
As of March 31, 2026 there was $105.0 million of cash (including restricted funds) against $.5 million of interest-bearing debt, plus a $50 million revolving facility from the parent company with $49.5 million still available. Equity attributable to NL stockholders was $359.3 million — with only $27.2 million of goodwill on the books. No substance risk is visible.
Reported earnings are set by a stake NL does not control: the 31 percent Kronos position cost $15.0 million in 2023, added $26.4 million in 2024 and cost $33.9 million in 2025. Net income attributable to NL stockholders accordingly swung from −$2.3 million to +$67.2 million and back to −$37.8 million, while net sales moved only between $145.9 million and $161.3 million.
CompX is unglamorous and dependable: $158.3 million of net sales in 2025 after $145.9 million a year earlier, Security Products reporting unit profit of $22.5 million at an 18.6 percent margin and Marine Components at $7.5 million. In the first quarter of 2026 segment profit rose to $7.1 million from $5.9 million on essentially flat net sales of $40.6 million.
Valhi held roughly 83 percent of the 48,862,734 shares as of March 31, 2026, and a Contran subsidiary roughly 91 percent of Valhi; only about 8.3 million shares are freely tradable. On May 26, 2026 the company reincorporated in Delaware, was renamed NLI Holdings and expressly opted out of the Section 203 anti-takeover statute. The float decides nothing.
The dividend is covered but passed through: for 2026 NL expects inflows of $20.3 million (Kronos $7.0 million, CompX $12.9 million, Valhi $.4 million) and pays out roughly $19.5 million at $.10 per share per quarter — the rate declared for both the first and the second quarter of 2026. It can only rise if Kronos or CompX raise theirs — the special dividends recently swung between $.43 (2024) and $.21 per share (2025).
The large payments are behind it — $101.7 million of lead pigment settlement finally paid in October 2025 and $56.1 million for Raritan Bay in the first quarter of 2025. What remains: $13.0 million of accruals for roughly 27 sites, an upper end that rose from about $26 million to about $38 million in one quarter, about five sites with no estimable range, and the statement that new lead paint cases may still be filed.
NL Industries is the ownership illusion in its purest form: a stock at roughly 0.79 times book, yielding more than 6 percent, with a balance sheet that as of March 31, 2026 consisted almost entirely of market prices — $105.0 million of cash, a Kronos stake worth $231.4 million and $17.1 million of Valhi shares, against $.5 million of interest-bearing debt. The catch sits in the footnotes: no employees of its own, earnings set by a 31 percent stake (2025: −$33.9 million), a dividend other companies wire in (2026 expected: $20.3 million), and a majority holder at roughly 83 percent that in May 2026 had the statutory takeover brake voted away. Buying this means buying assets without control. Not investment advice.
- NL Industries came onto the research list through our own raw-data screen of the U.S. universe: we looked for names trading below book value (price-to-book roughly 0.79) that also showed a dividend yield above 6 percent and negative earnings per share (−$.69 for the twelve months ended March 31, 2026, rolled forward from the annual report 10-K for 2025 and the quarterly report 10-Q for March 31, 2026; price and valuation data as of July 29, 2026). The lists produced by our in-house stock scanner are recomputed daily and are therefore deliberately not cited as evidence.
- The most recent periodic report is the quarterly report 10-Q for March 31, 2026 (filed May 6, 2026). Everything filed after it was reviewed together with its exhibits: the 8-K of May 6, 2026 (Items 2.02 and 9.01, first quarter results), six insider filings (Form 4) of May 15, 2026, the 8-K of May 14, 2026 (Items 5.07, 7.01 and 9.01 — the annual meeting approving the reincorporation and the Section 203 opt-out, plus the press release in which the board also declared the $.10 per share dividend for the second quarter of 2026, payable June 23, 2026), Form SD of May 19, 2026 (conflict minerals, incorporating the disclosure of subsidiary CompX, no effect on the picture) and the 8-K of May 26, 2026 (Items 1.01, 2.01, 2.03, 3.03, 5.02, 5.03 and 9.01, with Exhibits 2.1 plan of merger, 3.1 Delaware certificate, 3.2 bylaws, 4.1 description of capital stock and 10.1 form of indemnification agreement — completion of the reincorporation in Delaware and the renaming to NLI Holdings, Inc.). Nothing has been filed after May 26, 2026 through the July 29, 2026 data cut-off — in particular no prospectus (424B*), no registration statement (S-3) and no deregistration form (25 or 15). Every present-tense statement about cash, credit facility, equity, debt, environmental accrual and ceiling, the board, the state of incorporation, the Section 203 status, the voting arrangement, the share count and the dividend reflects that status.
- On the share count: the cover page of the quarterly report 10-Q states exactly 48,862,734 shares outstanding as of May 1, 2026, while Exhibit 4.1 to the 8-K of May 26, 2026 ("Description of Capital Stock") already gives 48,898,734 as of May 26, 2026 — 36,000 shares, or 0.07 percent, more. The text uses the 10-Q figure throughout because it belongs with the March 31, 2026 balance sheet; wherever a present-tense statement is made, the newer figure is given alongside it. The difference changes none of the derived measures: book value per share is $7.35 on either basis. On the market capitalization cross-check: the roughly $283 million on file works out to about $5.79 per share; against book value of $7.354 per share from the same balance sheet that gives a price-to-book ratio of roughly 0.79 — precisely the figure shown in the fundamental data. No NL share price is documented in any filing, which is why the cross-check runs through share count and book value. Analyses here are evergreen; daily prices are not an argument to buy.
- Easily confused: titanium dioxide producer Kronos Worldwide (NYSE: KRO) is a separately listed company and is expressly not consolidated by NL — Kronos revenue appears nowhere in NL's figures, only NL's share of its profit or loss. Nor is parent company Valhi, Inc. (NYSE: VHI) part of NL's consolidation scope, even though NL owns 1.2 million Valhi shares. Comparing NL metrics with those of Kronos or Valhi means comparing three different reporting entities.
About the Company
NLI Holdings, Inc. ist über seine Tochtergesellschaften in der Komponentenproduktbranche in Europa, Nordamerika, dem asiatisch-pazifischen Raum und international tätig.
| Employees | 2,812 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Dallas, TX |
| Website | nl-ind.com |
| IPO Date | 6. Apr 1983 |
| Next Earnings | 5. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Courtney J. Riley | President, CEO & Director | 1966 |
| Amy Allbach Samford | Executive VP & CFO | 1974 |
| John A. Sunny | Executive VP & Chief Information Officer | 1963 |
| John R. Powers III | Senior VP & General Counsel | 1973 |
| Bryan A. Hanley | Senior VP & Treasurer | 1981 |
| Andrew B. Nace | Executive Vice President | 1965 |
| Kristin B. McCoy | Executive Vice President of Tax | 1973 |
| Bart W. Reichert | Vice President of Internal Audit | 1971 |
| Erica A. Austin | Senior Vice President of Employee Benefits | 1991 |
| Amy E. Ruf | VP & Controller | 1975 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 28, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.