Ashland (ASH) Competitors

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

Which has better earnings and valuation, ASH or ALB?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashland	$2.11B	1.12	$169M	-$18.73	-2.77
Albemarle	$5.38B	1.75	-$1.18B	-$9.32	-8.56

Is ASH or ALB more profitable?

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%

Is ASH or ALB a better dividend stock?

Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. 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 increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Albemarle has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer ASH or ALB?

In the previous week, Ashland had 18 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for Ashland and 13 mentions for Albemarle. Albemarle's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Ashland's score of 0.22 indicating that Albemarle is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ashland	6 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	16 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Albemarle	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend ASH or ALB?

Ashland currently has a consensus price target of $61.43, indicating a potential upside of 18.40%. Albemarle has a consensus price target of $86.47, indicating a potential upside of 8.33%. Given Ashland's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Ashland is more favorable than Albemarle.

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

Which has more risk and volatility, ASH or ALB?

Ashland has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albemarle has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

94.0% of Ashland shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Albemarle shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Ashland shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Albemarle shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Ashland beats Albemarle on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.