Is HUN a good stock to buy? We came across a bullish thesis on Huntsman Corporation on Hidden Rock Capital’s Newsletter’s Substack by Hidden Rock Capital. In this article, we will summarize the bulls’ thesis on HUN. Huntsman Corporation’s share was trading at $14.23 as of June 8th. HUN’s forward P/E was 1.00k according to Yahoo Finance.
Syda Productions/Shutterstock.com
Huntsman Corporation (HUN) is a specialty chemicals producer operating across three core segments, including Polyurethanes used in insulation, foam, sealants, and construction applications, Performance Products serving industrial, automotive, and electronics end markets, and Advanced Materials focused on high-performance adhesives, composites, and coatings.
Read More: 15 AI Stocks That Are Quietly Making Investors Rich
Read More: Undervalued AI Stock Poised For Massive Gains: 10000% Upside Potential
The company has faced a prolonged cyclical downturn, with its stock declining more than 50% over the past five years as weak end-market demand, post-COVID inventory destocking, and significant new capacity additions from China and the Middle East have weighed on pricing and margins across the chemicals industry. Despite these headwinds, Huntsman’s underlying business model remains structurally intact, with its diversified exposure across industrial value chains and historically resilient cash generation through the cycle.
The investment case centers on the extreme cyclicality of earnings, where Huntsman’s adjusted EBITDA has fluctuated sharply across multiple business cycles, including strong boom periods in 2016–2018 and 2021–2022, and weaker downturns in 2019–2020 and the ongoing post-2023 trough.
Over the past decade, the company has still averaged approximately $800–$900 million in mid-cycle adjusted EBITDA, suggesting current results reflect cyclical compression rather than long-term deterioration. This normalization supports a view that earnings are well below potential, with significant embedded operating leverage if global industrial demand stabilizes and supply-demand conditions tighten.
Applying a mid-cycle valuation framework using an 8–10x EV/EBITDA multiple, in line with historical specialty chemical market ranges, implies a fair value of approximately $30–$40 per share. This represents a potential upside of roughly 3x from the current ~$13 share price, highlighting a compelling risk-reward skew. In a recovery scenario where volumes normalize and pricing power improves, Huntsman could experience both earnings expansion and multiple rerating, positioning the stock as a high-beta cyclical recovery opportunity with meaningful upside optionality from mean reversion in global chemical markets.
Previously, we covered a bullish thesis on Eastman Chemical Company (EMN) by Necessary-Damage5658 in November 2024, which highlighted export restrictions and regulatory shifts strengthening its position as a compliant supplier capturing incremental demand. EMN’s stock price has depreciated by approximately 29.09% since our coverage. Hidden Rock Capital shares a similar view but emphasizes cyclical earnings compression and mid-cycle normalization in HUN, where upside is driven by mean reversion in chemical demand and valuation rerating from trough levels.
Huntsman Corporation is not on our list of the 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 43 hedge fund portfolios held HUN at the end of the first quarter which was 50 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of HUN as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than HUN and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
Disclosure: None.
