Ashland (NYSE:ASH) vs. Orbia Advance (OTCMKTS:MXCHY) Head to Head Survey

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) and Orbia Advance (OTCMKTS:MXCHY) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Ashland and Orbia Advance’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashland	-46.01%	6.82%	3.26%
Orbia Advance	2.21%	7.87%	2.14%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ashland and Orbia Advance”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashland	$2.11 billion	1.22	$169.00 million	($18.73)	-3.02
Orbia Advance	$7.51 billion	0.20	$145.00 million	N/A	N/A

Ashland has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Orbia Advance.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.0% 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 hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Orbia Advance pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Ashland pays out -8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ashland has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ashland and Orbia Advance, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashland	0	3	3	0	2.50
Orbia Advance	0	0	1	0	3.00

Ashland presently has a consensus target price of $65.50, suggesting a potential upside of 15.74%. Given Ashland’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Ashland is more favorable than Orbia Advance.

Volatility & Risk

Ashland has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Orbia Advance has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ashland beats Orbia Advance on 9 of the 15 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 Orbia Advance

Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. provides products and solutions for precision agriculture, building and infrastructure, fluorinated, polymer, and connectivity sectors worldwide. The company offers irrigation systems, agricultural and greenhouse projects, digital farming technologies, and related services; and connectivity solutions, including conduits, cable-in conduit, and other HDPE products and solutions. It also provides water delivering solutions for drinking water supply, sanitation, and urban water resilience; fluorine and downstream products, comprising fluorspar mine and produces intermediates, refrigerants, and propellants for used in automotive, infrastructure, semiconductor, health, medicine, climate control, food cold chain, energy storage, computing, and telecommunications applications; and general and specialty resins, PVC, and compounds and additives for stabilizers and plasticizers, as well as compounds formulated from polyolefin, thermoplastic polyurethane, and thermoplastic elastomer polymers for various applications. The company was formerly known as Mexichem, S.A.B. de C.V. and changed its name to Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. in August 2019. Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.