CSAN vs UGP: How Cosan and Ultrapar Participacoes Compare (2026)

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 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.

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. CSAN and UGP 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 CSAN and UGP 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.

Cosan S.A. began in 1936 as a sugar mill operator in Sao Paulo state and is now a holding company that sits above several separate Brazilian businesses. Compass distributes natural gas, including Comgas, the country's largest piped-gas utility, and operates the Edge regasification terminal at the Port of Santos. Rumo runs the largest freight rail network in Brazil, hauling grain and sugar to Santos and to northern ports. Moove blends and sells lubricants as the Mobil licensee across Brazil, parts of South America and Europe. Radar holds farmland. Raizen, the roughly 50/50 sugar, ethanol and fuel-distribution joint venture with Shell, was historically the largest piece and is now the source of the group's damage. Cosan employs roughly ~29,000 people, reports in Brazilian reais, and trades in Sao Paulo as CSAN3; one ADS on the NYSE represents one common share.

Full CSAN guide

Ultrapar Participacoes was founded in 1937 and runs four businesses. Ipiranga, the largest by revenue, distributes gasoline, diesel and ethanol to roughly ~6,000 branded service stations across Brazil, with the AmPm convenience format and the Km de Vantagens loyalty program attached to it. Ultragaz bottles and delivers liquefied petroleum gas to households and industrial customers. Ultracargo operates specialized liquid bulk storage terminals at ports including Santos, Suape, Itaqui and Aratu. Hidrovias do Brasil, where Ultrapar took control in May 2025 and began consolidating results from that date, moves grain and iron ore on the Northern Corridor and the Paraguay and Parana river system. The group is deliberately narrower than it was: Oxiteno, the specialty chemicals arm, went to Indorama in 2022, and the Extrafarma drugstore chain was sold to Pague Menos the same year.

Full UGP guide

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

• CSAN drivers: Deleveraging by divestment rather than by earnings; Compass as the funded cash engine.
• UGP drivers: Ipiranga margin per litre, not volume; Ultragaz as the steady cash line.

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: Raizen is the open wound: an extrajudicial reorganization is ongoing, Cosan has said it has no legal or constructive obligation to fund it, and creditors may test that position. For UGP, brazilian fuel distribution competes against a persistent informal segment that evades ICMS fuel taxes and undercuts compliant distributors on price, so enforcement policy is a direct input to Ipiranga's margin rather than a background issue.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CSAN if you believe its drivers more; UGP 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 CSAN and UGP guides.

CSAN. There is no trailing price-to-earnings figure because Cosan lost roughly ~$1.8 billion (about ~R$9.7 billion) over the last twelve months, mostly on Raizen impairments rather than on operations. Valuation work on CSAN is therefore a sum-of-the-parts exercise: mark Compass, Rumo, Moove and Radar, subtract holding-company debt near ~R$11.5 billion, and assign zero to Raizen as the company itself now does. The next report is scheduled for around ~August 14, 2026.

UGP. The two ratios that matter most here are EV/EBITDA of ~6.8x and net debt to EBITDA of ~1.5x, because a distributor with ~2% EBITDA margins is valued on cash conversion and balance-sheet room rather than on revenue. Reported net income more than doubled to ~R$914 million in the first quarter of 2026, which is why the forward multiple sits well below the trailing one. Second quarter 2026 results were scheduled for August 12, 2026 with a call the following morning, and analysts going in were modelling about ~$0.27 per ADR on roughly ~$8.2 billion of quarterly revenue.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): CSAN shows revenue (ttm) ~$7.6 billion, reported in Brazilian reais, q1 2026 net sales ~R$9.0 billion, down from ~R$9.7 billion, q1 2026 ebitda ~R$3.2 billion, up from ~R$2.0 billion, q1 2026 net loss ~R$1.3 billion, narrowed from ~R$1.9 billion; UGP shows revenue (ttm) ~$27.9 billion, ebitda (ttm) ~$1.43 billion, net income (ttm) ~$574 million, market capitalization ~$6.6 billion at ~$6.12 per ADR.

CSAN and UGP 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 CSAN and UGP exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.