Ashland Inc.
Rank #430DeclineASH · NYSE · Basic Materials
Ashland Inc. (ASH) — Rank #430 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.12) · ROE -45.2% · Piotroski F-Score 6 / 9.
As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0001674862 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.
About
Ashland Inc. provides additives and specialty ingredients in the North and Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and internationally.
Show moreShow less
It operates through Life Sciences, Personal Care, Specialty Additives, and Intermediates segments. The Life Sciences segment offers pharmaceutical solutions, including controlled release polymers, disintegrants, tablet coatings, thickeners, solubilizers, and tablet binders; and nutrition solutions, such as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and additives; agricultural chemicals; diagnostic films; and fine chemicals. Its Personal Care segment provides a range of natural, nature-derived, biodegradable, and performance ingredients; solutions for toothpastes, mouth washes and rinses, denture cleaning, and care for teeth; and household supplies nature-derived rheology ingredients, biodegradable surface wetting agents, performance encapsulates, and specialty polymers. The Specialty Additives segment offers rheology modifiers, foam control agents, surfactants and wetting agents, pH neutralizers, advanced ceramics used in catalytic converters, environmental filters, ingredients for the manufacturing of ceramic capacitors, plasma display panels and solar cells, ingredients for textile printing, thermoplastic metals, and alloys for welding. Its Intermediates segment produces 1,4 butanediol and related derivatives, including n-methylpyrrolidone. It offers its products to customers in a range of consumer and industrial markets, such as architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care, and pharmaceutical. The company was formerly known as Ashland Global Holdings Inc. and changed its name to Ashland Inc. in August 2022. Ashland Inc.
was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.
- Industry
- Specialty Chemicals
- Sector
- Basic Materials
- State
- DE
- Filer Category
- Large accelerated filer
- Fiscal Year End
- September 30
- Website
- ashland.com
Price History
Company Snapshot
P/E, P/B, and dividend yield matter most — book value provides a floor.
Market Cap
$3.19B
P/E (annual)
—
P/S (annual)
1.8
P/B
1.7
P/OCF (annual)
23.8
Shareholder Yield
10.4%
Employees
2,900
Industry
Specialty Chemicals
Exchange
NYSE
Signal Flags
Quality Profile
Profitability
1/1 passSafety
1/1 passCash Flow
3/3 passGrowth
1/2 passTerry Smith quality gate
Passes 0/5 Terry Smith thresholds2 of 5 thresholds not computable from filed data.
What Growth Is Priced In
Implied revenue growth (10Y)
28.3%
The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).
Buyback tailwind: -8.0% — per-share value needs a total required return of 20.3% once share-count change is priced in.
vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: -5.1%
Cost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)
r = 8%
22.8%
r = 10% (base)
28.3%
r = 12%
33.0%
Net debt / market cap: 30.7%— material leverage inflates the implied growth read.
Valuation History
Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.
P / E
Price / diluted EPS
P / S
Price / revenue per share
P / B
Price / book value per share
P / GP
Price / gross profit per share
P / FCF
Price / free cash flow per share
Asset value and restructuring potential (balance-sheet strength) are the primary reads at this stage.
Profitability
Gross profitability (GP / assets)
0.12
Primary signal (Novy-Marx).
5th of 5 SIC 51 peers
Return on equity
-45.2%
Gross margin
30.1%
5th of 5 SIC 51 peers
Revenue growth (YoY)
-13.7%
Gross margin improving
Margin trend vs prior year.
Operating Leverage
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue vs COGS | ||||
| Revenue vs OpEx | ||||
| Op. Income vs Revenue |
Growth
Revenue CAGR (3Y)
-8.6%
Revenue CAGR (5Y)
-2.0%
Earnings CAGR (3Y)
—
FCF CAGR (3Y)
-23.4%
Anti-fragile safety
Balance-sheet safety
Composite anti-fragile check.
Debt / equity
1.42
Current ratio
3.05×
3rd of 5 SIC 51 peers
Quick ratio
1.64×
Net cash
-$984.00M
Cash & equivalents minus total debt.
Cash-flow health
Free cash flow
$36.00M
Operating cash flow minus capex.
Positive free cash flow
FCF / net income
1.04
Cash-backing of earnings.
FCF/NI divergence
Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).
Accruals healthy
Cash-backed earnings.
SBC / revenue
0.8%
Stock-based comp intensity.
Dividend safety
Composite score
0.2 / 5
Piotroski F-Score
F-Score
6 / 9
Fundamental-strength score (0-9).