Ashland (ASH) Competitors

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

Is ALB or ASH a better dividend stock?

Albemarle pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.62 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Albemarle pays out -9.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ashland pays out 48.4% 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. Albemarle has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Ashland has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years.

Is ALB or ASH more profitable?

Ashland has a net margin of 7.95% compared to Albemarle's net margin of -28.80%. Ashland's return on equity of 7.43% beat Albemarle's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albemarle	-28.80%	1.67%	0.84%
Ashland	7.95%	7.43%	3.85%

Do analysts recommend ALB or ASH?

Albemarle presently has a consensus target price of $114.47, indicating a potential upside of 4.49%. Ashland has a consensus target price of $103.29, indicating a potential upside of 35.49%. Given Ashland's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ashland is more favorable than Albemarle.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albemarle	1 Sell rating(s)	15 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
Ashland	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Do insiders & institutionals believe in ALB or ASH?

92.9% of Albemarle shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.0% of Ashland shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Albemarle shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Ashland shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better valuation & earnings, ALB or ASH?

Albemarle has higher revenue and earnings than Ashland. 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
Albemarle	$9.62B	1.34	$1.57B	-$16.75	-6.54
Ashland	$2.11B	1.76	$169M	$3.35	22.76

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ALB or ASH?

Albemarle received 180 more outperform votes than Ashland when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 68.43% of users gave Ashland an outperform vote while only 62.88% of users gave Albemarle an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albemarle	Outperform Votes 774 62.88%	Underperform Votes 457 37.12%
Ashland	Outperform Votes 594 68.43%	Underperform Votes 274 31.57%

Which has more risk and volatility, ALB or ASH?

Albemarle has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ashland has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor ALB or ASH?

In the previous week, Ashland had 12 more articles in the media than Albemarle. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for Ashland and 11 mentions for Albemarle. Ashland's average media sentiment score of 0.24 beat Albemarle's score of 0.05 indicating that Ashland is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albemarle	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ashland	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Ashland beats Albemarle on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.