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Ashland (ASH) Competitors

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$53.14 -0.18 (-0.33%)
As of 01:09 PM Eastern
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ASH vs. ALB, CBT, FUL, NEU, CE, BCPC, SXT, KWR, IOSP, and MTX

Should you be buying Ashland stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Ashland include Albemarle (ALB), Cabot (CBT), H. B. Fuller (FUL), NewMarket (NEU), Celanese (CE), Balchem (BCPC), Sensient Technologies (SXT), Quaker Houghton (KWR), Innospec (IOSP), and Minerals Technologies (MTX). These companies are all part of the "basic materials" sector.

Ashland vs. Its Competitors

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

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

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Ashland$1.87B1.30$169M-$18.73-2.83
Albemarle$4.99B1.73-$1.18B-$9.32-7.87

In the previous week, Ashland had 25 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Ashland and 9 mentions for Albemarle. Albemarle's average media sentiment score of 1.36 beat Ashland's score of 0.44 indicating that Albemarle is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Ashland
13 Very Positive mention(s)
6 Positive mention(s)
11 Neutral mention(s)
3 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Neutral
Albemarle
8 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
1 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Ashland presently has a consensus price target of $61.43, suggesting a potential upside of 15.92%. Albemarle has a consensus price target of $86.47, suggesting a potential upside of 17.89%. Given Albemarle's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Albemarle is more favorable than Ashland.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Ashland
0 Sell rating(s)
4 Hold rating(s)
3 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.43
Albemarle
4 Sell rating(s)
10 Hold rating(s)
3 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
1.94

Albemarle has a net margin of -18.61% compared to Ashland's net margin of -46.01%. Ashland's return on equity of 6.82% beat Albemarle's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Ashland-46.01% 6.82% 3.26%
Albemarle -18.61%-1.87%-0.89%

Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Ashland pays out -8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Albemarle pays out -17.4% 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. Ashland has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Albemarle has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years.

Ashland has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albemarle has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

93.9% of Ashland shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Albemarle shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Ashland shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Albemarle shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ashland and Albemarle tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ASH and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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ASH vs. The Competition

MetricAshlandCHEM IndustryMaterials SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$2.42B$15.51B$3.58B$21.42B
Dividend Yield3.02%1.87%5.07%3.50%
P/E Ratio-2.8352.91157.7329.52
Price / Sales1.303.1215,999.8367.82
Price / Cash5.2913.6024.2824.61
Price / Book0.903.246.664.54
Net Income$169M$423.39M$149.32M$999.91M
7 Day Performance-1.95%0.51%2.20%0.96%
1 Month Performance1.76%5.45%9.85%5.23%
1 Year Performance-37.30%13.57%48.91%16.73%

Ashland Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
ASH
Ashland
4.5419 of 5 stars
$52.99
-0.6%
$61.43
+15.9%
-37.6%$2.42B$1.87B-2.833,200Analyst Forecast
ALB
Albemarle
4.0634 of 5 stars
$81.95
+0.5%
$86.47
+5.5%
-7.4%$9.60B$5.38B-8.798,300Positive News
CBT
Cabot
4.4445 of 5 stars
$80.96
-0.1%
$92.33
+14.1%
-20.0%$4.31B$3.99B10.584,200Positive News
FUL
H. B. Fuller
4.2643 of 5 stars
$62.71
+0.5%
$67.25
+7.2%
-22.9%$3.37B$3.57B33.907,500
NEU
NewMarket
1.9584 of 5 stars
$828.26
+1.8%
N/A+42.4%$7.64B$2.79B16.422,060News Coverage
Positive News
CE
Celanese
4.287 of 5 stars
$46.44
-4.7%
$57.22
+23.2%
-62.9%$5.34B$9.94B-3.1312,163Positive News
Analyst Forecast
BCPC
Balchem
4.2624 of 5 stars
$162.13
+0.6%
$189.00
+16.6%
-5.2%$5.23B$953.68M37.191,361
SXT
Sensient Technologies
3.8307 of 5 stars
$113.19
+0.3%
$110.00
-2.8%
+50.8%$4.79B$1.56B35.714,014Positive News
KWR
Quaker Houghton
2.8674 of 5 stars
$143.99
-0.3%
$150.75
+4.7%
-11.6%$2.51B$1.84B-334.854,400Positive News
IOSP
Innospec
3.3309 of 5 stars
$85.20
-0.6%
N/A-21.4%$2.13B$1.85B109.232,450Positive News
Short Interest ↑
MTX
Minerals Technologies
3.9918 of 5 stars
$64.07
-0.1%
$84.00
+31.1%
-12.2%$2.01B$2.12B1,067.933,891

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This page (NYSE:ASH) was last updated on 9/10/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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