Is the business good?
How good a business is ASH?
Ashland Inc. earns 3.9% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
3.9%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 5.1 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 7.4%
Operating margin · Specialty Chemicals median 9.1% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- R&D as % of revenue
- 3.0%
R&D as % of revenue
- Gross margin
- 32%
Gross margin
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −23% |
| FY2021 | 9.1% |
| FY2022 | 14% |
| FY2023 | 7.8% |
| FY2024 | −1.2% |
| FY2025 | −42% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 32%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 7.4%
- Net margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 2.8%
- Free cash flow margin
- 14%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 3.0%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.84B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $250M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $52M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 3.9%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Specialty Chemicals
Ranks #6 of 36 by Smart Score