Stocks · Basic Materials · Chemicals - Specialty
Ashland Inc. ASH
$69.52 +1.33% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $3.18B
Strong trend
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
- The shares trade at 61.5× trailing earnings, higher than 93% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 94 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $1.84B, down 1.4% from a year earlier, accelerating from -7.2% a quarter 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.
Growth62Neutral
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 23%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 4%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 21%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 18%
Quality57Neutral
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 36%
- Gross marginTop 42%
- Operating marginBottom 45%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 8%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 34%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 34%
- Interest coverBottom 35%
Value55Neutral
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 45%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 13%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 31%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 45%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 12%
Momentum92Exceptional
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 17%
- 6-month returnTop 14%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 15%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 11%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 25%
Revisions35Weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 41%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 50%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 34%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 17%
Stability57Neutral
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 45%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 43%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 34%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -7.2% | -1.4% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 25.9% | 29.4% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 4.8% | 7.3% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 3.2% | 17.5% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -1.4% | -7.2% | ↑ | Bottom 23% |
| Gross margin | 29.4% | 25.9% | ↑ | Top 42% |
| Operating margin | 7.3% | 4.8% | ↑ | Bottom 45% |
| Net margin | 2.8% | -46.0% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 17.5% | 3.2% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 1.9% | — | Bottom 36% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -8.6% | — | Bottom 21% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -7.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.8%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +28.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.66×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.2×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 2.39%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.03%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.42%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -4.6%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 3 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +0.7%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.8%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 4 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $78.71
- Target vs current price
- +13.2%
- Analysts with a rating
- 25
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 64%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | +3.6% | +2.5% | +8.1% | +11.0% | — |
| Apr 28, 2026 | -6.2% | -1.2% | -8.9% | +0.3% | +15.4% |
| Feb 2, 2026 | +13.0% | +0.7% | +4.9% | -0.0% | -6.8% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | -7.7% | -0.8% | +3.4% | +19.2% | +26.8% |
| Jul 29, 2025 | -9.6% | -1.5% | -0.4% | +10.4% | -0.6% |
| Apr 30, 2025 | -10.0% | +1.7% | -10.0% | -6.9% | -4.2% |
| Jan 28, 2025 | +40.0% | +0.0% | -14.4% | -9.4% | -27.2% |
| Nov 7, 2024 | -1.6% | -7.6% | -11.4% | -12.5% | -26.4% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | $1.02 | $0.99 | +3.6% | $497.0M |
| Apr 28, 2026 | $0.91 | $0.97 | -6.2% | $482.0M |
| Feb 2, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.23 | +13.0% | $386.0M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $1.08 | $1.17 | -7.7% | $478.0M |
| Jul 29, 2025 | $1.04 | $1.15 | -9.6% | $463.0M |
| Apr 30, 2025 | $0.99 | $1.10 | -10.0% | $479.0M |
| Jan 28, 2025 | $0.28 | $0.20 | +40.0% | $405.0M |
| Nov 7, 2024 | $1.26 | $1.28 | -1.6% | $522.0M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 61.5× | 23.4× | 93th | Bottom 45% |
| P/E (forward) | 19.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.8× | — | — | Top 31% |
| EV / Sales | 2.29× | — | — | Bottom 45% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 10.15% | — | — | Top 13% |
| Earnings yield | 1.63% | — | — | Bottom 45% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 6.4× – 64.5× since Jun 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
- 94
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.4%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -3.0%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +11.1%
- RSI (14)
- 46.3
- Relative volume
- 0.76×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 26.2%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 36th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.11
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.49
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -9.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -54.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2, 2022 | Apr 8, 2025 | -59.0% | 587 days | Not yet recovered |
| Nov 19, 2021 | Mar 7, 2022 | -22.2% | 72 days | 31 days (Apr 20, 2022) |
| Jun 7, 2022 | Sep 27, 2022 | -15.2% | 77 days | 35 days (Nov 15, 2022) |
| Jun 1, 2021 | Aug 19, 2021 | -13.6% | 56 days | 39 days (Oct 14, 2021) |
| Apr 20, 2022 | May 12, 2022 | -11.7% | 16 days | 16 days (Jun 6, 2022) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $3.18B
- P/E (TTM)
- 61.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.13
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.84B
- Dividend yield
- 2.40%
- 52-week range
- $47.12 – $78.25
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.11B | $2.39B | $2.19B | $2.11B | $1.82B |
| Gross profit | $670.0M | $830.0M | $668.0M | $618.0M | $549.0M |
| Operating income | $192.0M | $333.0M | $172.0M | -$26.0M | -$775.0M |
| Net income | $220.0M | $927.0M | $178.0M | $169.0M | -$845.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.66 | $16.41 | $3.31 | $3.38 | -$18.37 |
| Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $522.0M | $405.0M | $479.0M | $463.0M | $478.0M | $386.0M | $482.0M | $497.0M |
| Net income | $16.0M | -$165.0M | $31.0M | -$742.0M | $32.0M | -$12.0M | $16.0M | $16.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.33 | -$3.51 | $0.65 | -$16.13 | $0.70 | -$0.26 | $0.34 | $0.35 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $560.0M | -$213.0M | $243.0M | $411.0M | $94.0M |
| Capital expenditure | -$105.0M | -$113.0M | -$170.0M | -$137.0M | -$98.0M |
| Free cash flow | $455.0M | -$326.0M | $73.0M | $274.0M | -$4.0M |
| Dividends paid | -$70.0M | -$70.0M | -$76.0M | -$78.0M | -$76.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$450.0M | -$200.0M | -$300.0M | -$380.0M | -$100.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $440.0M
- Total assets
- $4.58B
- Total liabilities
- $2.71B
- Total debt
- $1.48B
- Net debt
- $1.04B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.87B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $0.42 | Sep 15, 2026 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | $0.42 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Feb 27, 2026 | $0.42 | Mar 15, 2026 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | $0.42 | Dec 15, 2025 |
| Aug 29, 2025 | $0.42 | Sep 15, 2025 |
| May 30, 2025 | $0.42 | Jun 15, 2025 |
| Feb 28, 2025 | $0.41 | Mar 15, 2025 |
| Nov 29, 2024 | $0.41 | Dec 15, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,402,859
- Days to cover
- 6.78
- Change vs previous report
- -8.7%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- May 15, 2017
- 511-for-250
- Jul 1, 2005
- 2,500-for-2,053
- Mar 30, 2000
- 2,000-for-1,893
- Jul 29, 1988
- 2-for-1
- Jan 15, 1979
- 3-for-2