Ashland (ASH) Competitors

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and Ashland (NYSE:ASH) are both mid-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment and dividends.

Do analysts rate ALB or ASH?

Albemarle presently has a consensus target price of $91.62, suggesting a potential upside of 59.16%. Ashland has a consensus target price of $68.60, suggesting a potential upside of 37.62%. Given Albemarle's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Albemarle is more favorable than Ashland.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albemarle	2 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14
Ashland	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ALB or ASH?

Albemarle received 175 more outperform votes than Ashland when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 68.09% of users gave Ashland an outperform vote while only 61.78% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 779 61.78%	Underperform Votes 482 38.22%
Ashland	Outperform Votes 604 68.09%	Underperform Votes 283 31.91%

Does the media prefer ALB or ASH?

In the previous week, Ashland had 7 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Ashland and 7 mentions for Albemarle. Ashland's average media sentiment score of 0.40 beat Albemarle's score of 0.26 indicating that Ashland is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albemarle	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ashland	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility & risk, ALB or ASH?

Albemarle has a beta of 1.71, meaning that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ashland has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ALB or ASH?

92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Ashland shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Albemarle shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Ashland shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ALB or ASH a better dividend stock?

Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Albemarle pays out -14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ashland pays out -69.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Albemarle has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Ashland has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Ashland is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is ALB or ASH more profitable?

Ashland has a net margin of -1.12% compared to Albemarle's net margin of -21.93%. Ashland's return on equity of 7.41% beat Albemarle's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albemarle	-21.93%	-1.72%	-0.84%
Ashland	-1.12%	7.41%	3.80%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ALB or ASH?

Ashland has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Albemarle. Ashland is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Albemarle, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Albemarle	$5.09B	1.33	-$1.18B	-$11.12	-5.18
Ashland	$1.95B	1.17	$169M	-$2.40	-20.77

Summary

Ashland beats Albemarle on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.