Ashland (ASH) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ALB or ASH?

Albemarle received 175 more outperform votes than Ashland when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 68.06% of users gave Ashland an outperform vote while only 61.99% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 778 61.99%	Underperform Votes 477 38.01%
Ashland	Outperform Votes 603 68.06%	Underperform Votes 283 31.94%

Does the media favor ALB or ASH?

In the previous week, Ashland had 30 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Ashland and 13 mentions for Albemarle. Albemarle's average media sentiment score of 0.45 beat Ashland's score of 0.09 indicating that Albemarle is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albemarle	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ashland	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	7 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, 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	$5.38B	1.30	-$1.18B	-$11.20	-5.30
Ashland	$2.05B	1.13	$169M	-$0.66	-74.38

Is ALB or ASH a better dividend stock?

Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Albemarle pays out -14.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ashland pays out -245.5% 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 raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Ashland has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Ashland is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate ALB or ASH?

Albemarle presently has a consensus target price of $94.57, indicating a potential upside of 59.42%. Ashland has a consensus target price of $69.40, indicating a potential upside of 41.38%. Given Albemarle's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly 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

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of 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, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, ALB or ASH?

Albemarle has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ashland has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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%

Summary

Ashland beats Albemarle on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.