BASFY vs BAYRY: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: BAYRY is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. BASFY and BAYRY share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined BASFY and BAYRY exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

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.

Full BASFY guide

Bayer AG is a Leverkusen-based life sciences company with three divisions. Crop Science (seeds, traits and crop protection, much of it inherited from the ~$63 billion Monsanto acquisition in 2018) is the largest by sales. Pharmaceuticals sells prescription drugs such as the anticoagulant Xarelto, the prostate cancer drug Nubeqa, the kidney and heart drug Kerendia, the eye drug Eylea outside the US, and the menopause treatment Lynkuet (elinzanetant). Consumer Health sells over-the-counter brands including Aspirin, Aleve, Claritin, Bepanthen and One A Day. Group sales were ~EUR 45.6 billion (~$51 billion) in 2025, and the primary listing is on Xetra in Frankfurt under BAYN, where it is a DAX member. BAYRY is a sponsored ADR that trades over the counter in the US, with four ADRs representing one ordinary share.

Full BAYRY guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• BASFY drivers: Earnings recovery and raised 2026 guidance; Portfolio reshaping: coatings out, agriculture toward an IPO.
• BAYRY drivers: Closing out the Roundup litigation; Crop Science margin recovery.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: 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. For BAYRY, litigation remains the core risk: the class settlement could be delayed, challenged, or terminated if opt-outs exceed Bayer's threshold, and PCB claims and other Monsanto-era cases sit outside the glyphosate framework.

Pick BASFY if you believe its drivers more; BAYRY if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the BASFY and BAYRY guides.

BASFY. 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.

BAYRY. At ~EUR 44 a share, Bayer trades at roughly 9 to 11 times its 2026 core EPS guidance and around 7 to 8 times enterprise value to EBITDA before special items, a discount to large European pharma and agrochemical peers that reflects leverage and residual litigation risk. Reported net income has been negative (a net loss of ~EUR 3.6 billion in 2025, driven by litigation provisions), so trailing P/E figures on data sites can look meaningless or distorted. The dividend has been EUR 0.11 per share, a yield well under 1%, while cash goes to settlements and debt reduction.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): BASFY shows 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; BAYRY shows revenue (fy2025) ~EUR 45.6 billion (~$51 billion), ebitda before special items (fy2025) ~EUR 9.7 billion; 2026 guide ~EUR 9.6 to 10.1 billion, core eps guidance (2026) ~EUR 4.10 to 4.80 per share (new methodology), share price ~EUR 44 on Xetra; BAYRY ~$12.2 (4 ADRs = 1 share).

BASFY and BAYRY are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined BASFY and BAYRY exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.