Financial Analysis: Ashland (NYSE:ASH) and Aduro Clean Technologies (NASDAQ:ADUR)

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) and Aduro Clean Technologies (NASDAQ:ADUR) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Ashland and Aduro Clean Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashland	0	3	2	0	2.40
Aduro Clean Technologies	0	0	1	0	3.00

Ashland currently has a consensus target price of $68.60, suggesting a potential upside of 36.84%. Aduro Clean Technologies has a consensus target price of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 400.00%. Given Aduro Clean Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Aduro Clean Technologies is more favorable than Ashland.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.9% of Ashland shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Ashland shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ashland and Aduro Clean Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashland	$1.95 billion	1.18	$169.00 million	($2.40)	-20.89
Aduro Clean Technologies	$258,792.00	1,098.87	-$7.11 million	($0.25)	-40.00

Ashland has higher revenue and earnings than Aduro Clean Technologies. Aduro Clean Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ashland, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ashland and Aduro Clean Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashland	-1.12%	7.41%	3.80%
Aduro Clean Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Ashland beats Aduro Clean Technologies on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ashland

Ashland Inc. provides additives and specialty ingredients in the North and Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and internationally. 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; nutrition solutions, such as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and additives; and nutraceutical solutions comprising products for weight management, joint comfort, stomach and intestinal health, sports nutrition, and general wellness, as well as custom formulation, toll processing, and particle engineering solutions. Its Personal Care segment provides a range of nature-based, 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, nutraceuticals, 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.

About Aduro Clean Technologies

Aduro Clean Technologies is a developer of patented water-based technologies to chemically recycle waste plastics; convert heavy crude and bitumen into lighter, more valuable oil and transform renewable oils into higher-value fuels or renewable chemicals. Aduro Clean Technologies is based in LONDON, Ontario.