Ashland (ASH) Competitors

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

Which has better 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	$5.38B	1.31	-$1.18B	-$11.20	-5.35
Ashland	$2.05B	1.12	$169M	-$0.66	-73.29

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 increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Ashland has increased its dividend for 15 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 more volatility & 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.

Does the media prefer ALB or ASH?

In the previous week, Ashland had 18 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Ashland and 4 mentions for Albemarle. Albemarle's average media sentiment score of 0.64 beat Ashland's score of 0.30 indicating that Albemarle is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albemarle	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ashland	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate ALB or ASH?

Albemarle currently has a consensus price target of $104.30, indicating a potential upside of 74.05%. Ashland has a consensus price target of $85.40, indicating a potential upside of 76.56%. Given Ashland's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ashland is more favorable than Albemarle.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albemarle	2 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Ashland	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ALB or ASH?

Albemarle received 176 more outperform votes than Ashland when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 68.14% of users gave Ashland an outperform vote while only 62.26% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 777 62.26%	Underperform Votes 471 37.74%
Ashland	Outperform Votes 601 68.14%	Underperform Votes 281 31.86%

Do insiders and institutionals believe 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. 0.4% of Albemarle shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Ashland shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

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