Ashland Inc. (ASH) vs Innospec Inc. (IOSP)

Ashland Inc. and Innospec Inc. are both Specialty Chemicals companies. Ashland Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $3.2B against $2.4B — 1.3× the size. Innospec Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 20.1× against 60.6×. Innospec Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 2.87% against −1.39%. Innospec Inc. has the higher net margin (6.60% vs 2.77%) and the higher return on invested capital (7.32% vs 3.05%). Both pay a dividend; Ashland Inc. yields more (1.77% vs 1.19%). Across the 23 metrics below, Innospec Inc. leads on 14 and Ashland Inc. on 9.

Valuation

Metric ASH IOSP Specialty Chemicals median
P/E 60.58 20.10 24.83
P/S 1.72 1.32 1.46
P/B 1.67 1.80 1.76
Price to free cash flow 12.27 47.32 19.84
EV/EBITDA 12.38 13.05 13.18
EV/Sales 2.26 1.21 1.84
Earnings yield 1.65% 4.98% 2.11%
Free cash flow yield 8.15% 2.11% 2.29%

Profitability

Metric ASH IOSP Specialty Chemicals median
Gross margin 31.54% 27.46% 29.23%
Operating margin 7.44% 7.00% 3.63%
Net margin 2.77% 6.60% 2.89%
Free cash flow margin 14.06% 2.79% 3.78%
Return on equity 0.00% 9.16% 3.62%
Return on assets 1.11% 6.65% 0.35%
Return on invested capital 3.05% 7.32% 2.75%

Growth

Metric ASH IOSP Specialty Chemicals median
Revenue growth (TTM) (1.39%) 2.87% 4.51%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (642.56%) 228.87% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR (1.98%) 8.31% 6.30%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 32.36% 0.00%

Health

Metric ASH IOSP Specialty Chemicals median
Debt to equity 0.73 0.00 0.54
Current ratio 3.05 2.78 1.94
Net debt to EBITDA 6.68 (1.69) 2.03

Dividend

Metric ASH IOSP Specialty Chemicals median
Dividend yield 1.77% 1.19% 1.69%
Payout ratio 0.32 0.27 0.25

Size

Metric ASH IOSP Specialty Chemicals median
Market cap 3.16b 2.39b 2.43b

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