Ashland vs Stepan
ASH and SCL side by side. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How ASH and SCL compare
Ashland is the larger company, worth 2.3 times as much as Stepan ($3.5B against $1.5B).
Stepan grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (10.0% versus −1.4% for Ashland).
Both pay dividends: Ashland yields 2.2% and Stepan 2.4%.
Stepan scores higher on the StockData Score (7 against 6 for Ashland), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | ASH | SCL |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $3.5B | $1.5B |
| Share price | $76.72 | $65.94 |
| Change, 1 year | 53.8% | 50.0% |
| Change, 5 years | −29.8% | −45.5% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.92 | 0.87 |
| Employees | 2,900 | – |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 6 | 7 (better) |
| Valuation score | 1 | 1 |
| Growth score | 1 | 2 (better) |
| Performance score | 0 | 1 (better) |
| Health score | 2 (better) | 1 |
| Dividend score | 2 | 2 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | – | 347× |
| P/S | 1.9× | 0.6× (better) |
| P/B | 1.9× | 1.2× (better) |
| EV/EBITDA | 13.6× | 13.4× (better) |
| P/FCF | 14.1× (better) | 329× |
| FCF yield | 7.1% (better) | 0.30% |
| Fair value | $61.27 | $56.29 |
| Margin of safety | −25.2% | −17.1% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | −1.4% | 10.0% (better) |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | −2.0% | 4.5% (better) |
| Net income growth (TTM) | – | −90.4% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | – | −90.4% |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | – | −17.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 31.5% (better) | 12.0% |
| Operating margin | 7.4% (better) | 0.95% |
| Net margin | – | 0.17% |
| FCF margin | 13.6% (better) | 0.18% |
| Return on equity | – | 0.35% |
| Return on invested capital | 2.8% (better) | 1.4% |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 0.73 | 0.52 (better) |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.85 (better) | 3.53 |
| Current ratio | 3.05 (better) | 1.32 |
| Altman Z-score | 1.51 | 2.72 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | – | 6 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 2.2% | 2.4% (better) |
| Payout ratio | – | 830% |
| Years of dividend growth | 7 | 16 (better) |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 8.3% (better) | 6.5% |
| Shareholder yield | 2.2% | 2.4% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 114% | 87.6% |
| Held by insiders | 10.2% | 4.8% |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | – |
| Short interest, % of float | 12.3% | 3.1% |
Go deeper
- ASH stock overview
- ASH income statement
- ASH valuation and score
- SCL stock overview
- SCL income statement
- SCL valuation and score
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.