Stocks · Basic Materials · Chemicals - Specialty
Ascent Industries Co. ACNT
$13.77 -1.29% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $124.5M
Low risk
Next earnings report: Nov 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $83.5M, down 30.4% from a year earlier, accelerating from -37.7% a quarter earlier.
- The diluted share count fell 6.5% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- Operating margin narrowed to -7.4% from -2.5% a year earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Basic Materials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 4%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 3%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 2%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 13%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 20%
- Gross marginBottom 39%
- Operating marginBottom 13%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 8%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 1%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 30%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 17%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 23%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 34%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 41%
- 6-month returnTop 31%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 44%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 39%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 42%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 15%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 21%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 21%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 48%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 11%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 7%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 1%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -37.7% | -30.4% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 18.0% | 20.8% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | -2.5% | -7.4% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 7.1% | -10.1% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -30.4% | -37.7% | ↑ | Bottom 4% |
| Gross margin | 20.8% | 18.0% | ↑ | Bottom 39% |
| Operating margin | -7.4% | -2.5% | ↓ | Bottom 13% |
| Net margin | -5.3% | -2.7% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -10.1% | 7.1% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -5.7% | — | Bottom 20% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -34.1% | — | Bottom 2% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 1.6%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.7%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +66.3 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -19.89×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 6.06%
- Shareholder yield
- 6.06%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -6.5%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -3.6%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 2 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -88.6%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.0%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $18.00
- Target vs current price
- +30.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 4
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 75%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | — | -1.0% | +0.5% | -2.3% | — |
| May 6, 2026 | — | -2.3% | -7.9% | -9.5% | +3.5% |
| Mar 3, 2026 | -168.8% | -2.1% | -25.6% | -26.0% | -21.1% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | -31.0% | -0.9% | +5.0% | +22.5% | +34.2% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | +137.0% | +0.5% | -1.2% | -7.6% | -6.2% |
| May 12, 2025 | -291.7% | -0.3% | -3.7% | +4.5% | +1.6% |
| Mar 4, 2025 | -433.3% | -0.2% | +5.7% | +14.4% | +14.2% |
| Nov 12, 2024 | -971.4% | -1.8% | +5.6% | +22.6% | +17.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | $0.07 | — | — | $25.7M |
| May 6, 2026 | -$0.21 | — | — | $19.4M |
| Mar 3, 2026 | -$0.11 | $0.16 | -168.8% | $18.8M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $0.20 | $0.29 | -31.0% | $19.7M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $0.64 | $0.27 | +137.0% | $18.7M |
| May 12, 2025 | -$0.23 | $0.12 | -291.7% | $24.7M |
| Mar 4, 2025 | -$0.10 | $0.03 | -433.3% | $40.7M |
| Nov 12, 2024 | -$0.61 | $0.07 | -971.4% | $42.9M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 153.9× | — | — | Bottom 23% |
| EV / Sales | 1.32× | — | — | Top 34% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -6.75% | — | — | Bottom 17% |
| Earnings yield | -3.41% | — | — | Bottom 30% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 3.5× – 217.3× since Sep 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.0%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -8.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -7.7%
- RSI (14)
- 28.0
- Relative volume
- 0.60×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 20.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 0th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.24
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.12
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -22.6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -31.8%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2022 | Dec 15, 2023 | -61.5% | 441 days | Not yet recovered |
| Sep 28, 2020 | Oct 20, 2020 | -32.6% | 16 days | 20 days (Nov 17, 2020) |
| Nov 18, 2020 | Nov 27, 2020 | -16.9% | 6 days | 9 days (Dec 10, 2020) |
| Mar 11, 2021 | Mar 25, 2021 | -16.6% | 10 days | 53 days (Jun 10, 2021) |
| Jun 11, 2021 | Jul 19, 2021 | -16.1% | 25 days | 30 days (Aug 30, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $124.5M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$0.47
- Revenue (TTM)
- $83.5M
- 52-week range
- $11.86 – $17.92
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $334.7M | $262.0M | $193.2M | $177.9M | $74.9M |
| Gross profit | $60.8M | $43.3M | $1.5M | $22.1M | $16.9M |
| Operating income | $27.3M | $14.5M | -$37.4M | -$5.1M | -$6.7M |
| Net income | $20.2M | $22.1M | -$26.6M | -$13.6M | -$5.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.14 | $2.12 | -$2.63 | -$1.34 | -$0.58 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $42.9M | $40.7M | $17.8M | $18.7M | $19.7M | $18.8M | $19.4M | $25.7M |
| Net income | -$6.2M | -$1.0M | -$2.3M | $6.3M | -$2.1M | -$1.0M | -$2.0M | $670,000 |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.61 | -$0.10 | -$0.23 | $0.64 | -$0.22 | -$0.11 | -$0.21 | $0.07 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $19.1M | $5.6M | $23.1M | $14.7M | -$519,000 |
| Capital expenditure | -$1.5M | -$3.4M | -$2.9M | -$1.9M | -$1.5M |
| Free cash flow | $17.6M | $2.2M | $20.2M | $12.8M | -$2.1M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $10.0M | -$1.3M | -$1.3M | -$1.0M | -$8.7M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $28.1M
- Total assets
- $106.3M
- Total liabilities
- $26.7M
- Total debt
- $13.8M
- Net debt
- -$14.2M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $79.6M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 29, 2018 | $0.25 | Dec 12, 2018 |
| Oct 24, 2017 | $0.13 | Nov 6, 2017 |
| Nov 24, 2015 | $0.30 | Dec 8, 2015 |
| Nov 20, 2014 | $0.30 | Dec 9, 2014 |
| Nov 14, 2013 | $0.26 | Dec 3, 2013 |
| Nov 21, 2012 | $0.25 | Dec 10, 2012 |
| Nov 22, 2011 | $0.25 | — |
| Nov 18, 2010 | $0.25 | Dec 8, 2010 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 150,612
- Days to cover
- 5.39
- Change vs previous report
- -16.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 13, 1995
- 3-for-2
- Sep 22, 1992
- 3-for-2
- Feb 6, 1984
- 21-for-20
- Feb 22, 1982
- 5-for-4
- Feb 2, 1981
- 5-for-4