BASF SE (BASFY) Stock Price & How to Invest

BASF SE, headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, is the largest chemical producer in the world by sales, with group revenue of about €59.7 billion in 2025. It makes the building blocks of modern industry: basic chemicals and petrochemicals from its integrated Verbund sites, engineering plastics and polyurethanes, battery and catalyst materials, nutrition and personal care ingredients, and crop protection products and seeds through its Agricultural Solutions division. The Verbund model, in which plants at a single site feed each other's by-products and energy, is the company's core competitive idea, and Ludwigshafen is the largest integrated chemical complex on earth. In 2025 BASF started up the main plants at a new Verbund site in Zhanjiang, China, a roughly €8.7 billion bet that the world's biggest chemical market will keep growing. The US-traded BASFY is a sponsored Level I ADR on OTCQX, with BNY Mellon as depositary and four ADRs representing one ordinary share listed on Xetra under the ticker BAS.

The investment picture in October 2026 is a cyclical business in the middle of reinventing itself. Under CEO Markus Kamieth, BASF is running its "Winning Ways" strategy: separating its "core" chemicals and materials businesses from "standalone" units it plans to manage for value or sell. It closed the sale of a majority of its coatings business to Carlyle on June 30, 2026, booking a pre-tax gain of about €3.9 billion, and it is preparing a minority IPO of Agricultural Solutions targeted for 2027. Results have improved in 2026: second-quarter sales rose about 16% to roughly €17.2 billion, EBITDA before special items reached about €2.4 billion against roughly €1.6 billion a year earlier, and management raised its full-year EBITDA before special items guidance to €6.9 billion to €7.7 billion. In late September BASF confirmed exploratory talks to acquire Evonik Industries, which adds a large and still undefined variable. Shareholder returns rest on a minimum dividend of €2.25 per share through 2028 plus buyback plans, while the ongoing costs of shrinking the Ludwigshafen footprint, high European energy prices and the cycle itself are the main counterweights.

BASF is a cyclical company, and chemical prices, volumes and margins can turn quickly with industrial production, construction and auto demand, so a strong quarter can reverse within a year. European natural gas and power costs remain structurally higher than in the US and the Middle East, which puts Ludwigshafen at a competitive disadvantage and makes further restructuring charges likely. Chinese overcapacity in many basic chemicals pressures global pricing, which affects both European margins and the returns on the Zhanjiang investment. A large acquisition such as Evonik would bring integration risk, possible antitrust remedies and higher debt, and could crowd out the buyback plans. BASF also carries litigation exposure (including PFAS-related claims in the US, where BASF Corporation settled with public water systems in 2024 but continues to defend other cases), and for US holders the euro to dollar exchange rate and German dividend withholding tax affect what the ADR actually returns.

4 analysts publish price targets on BASFY, averaging $13.59 against a $14.99 price as of October 2026, or -9.3%. The published targets run from $12.00 to $16.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 0 buy, 2 hold, 2 sell. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full BASFY forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on BASF SE. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Earnings recovery and raised 2026 guidance. After two years of weak chemical demand and margin pressure, BASF's second quarter of 2026 was the strongest in some time. The most optimistic published target, $16.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. BASF is a cyclical company, and chemical prices, volumes and margins can turn quickly with industrial production, construction and auto demand, so a strong quarter can reverse within a year. The most pessimistic target, $12.00, is roughly what BASFY is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on BASFY, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see BASF SE's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (FY 2025): ~€59.7B (~$69B)
• EBITDA before special items (FY 2025): ~€6.6B
• 2026 EBITDA before special items guidance: €6.9B to €7.7B (raised in July)
• Q2 2026 sales / EBITDA bsi: ~€17.2B / ~€2.4B
• Market capitalisation: ~€47B to €48B (~$51B to $56B)
• Dividend per share: €2.25 floor through 2028 (~4% yield)

BASF shares traded around €53 in early autumn 2026, which puts the ADR in the mid-teens in dollars given the four-for-one ratio. On the guided 2026 EBITDA before special items, the stock trades at a mid-single-digit EV/EBITDA multiple once net debt and pensions are added back, which is typical for European commodity-heavy chemical producers and cheaper than US specialty peers. Reported net income in 2026 is inflated by the roughly €3.9 billion coatings disposal gain, so trailing P/E figures quoted on data sites can look misleadingly low and are best read alongside the underlying EBITDA trend.

Other names that sit close to BASFY: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get BASFY exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so BASFY sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where BASFY fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

BASFY gives US investors dollar access to a deeply cyclical, restructuring German chemical giant whose 2026 story hinges on whether raised guidance, the coatings exit, a planned agricultural IPO and a possible Evonik bid add up to durable earnings rather than another peak in the cycle.

Whether BASFY is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is BASFY a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the BASFY stock forecast.

For income investors, whether BASFY pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does BASFY pay a dividend? And to weigh BASFY against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: BASFY vs DOW and BASFY vs LYB.