Ashland Inc. ASH

Competitive advantage analysis · basic-materials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
27/100
Developing

Ranked against 56 peers in Specialty Chemicals

About Ashland Inc.

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; and nutrition solutions, such as thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and additives; agricultural … Full ASH analysis →

Key strengths

  • Revenue Growth Consistent Revenue growth volatility is low (stability score 0.75), suggesting sticky customer base.
  • Strong Liquidity Buffer Liquidity position is strong (score 0.73), providing operational cushion.

Key risks

  • ROIC Below WACC or Peers ROIC at 12.7th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.
  • Scale Without Profitability Despite scale, profitability lags peers (score 0.33), suggesting limited competitive advantage.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Weak
17
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Signals, strengths and risks for Pricing Power

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Signals, strengths and risks for Cost Advantage

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Signals, strengths and risks for Customer Stickiness

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Signals, strengths and risks for Capital Efficiency

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Signals, strengths and risks for Resilience

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Signals, strengths and risks for Scale & Market Position

Where ASH ranks in Specialty Chemicals

Ashland Inc. ranks #44 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score — the top 79%. The widest moat in the group is WD-40 Company (WDFC) at 81/100.

# Company Moat score Rating
40 Gevo, Inc. GEVO 30/100 Developing
41 Chemours Company (The) CC 30/100 Developing
42 Westlake Corporation WLK 28/100 Developing
43 Mativ Holdings, Inc. MATV 28/100 Developing
44 Ashland Inc. ASH 27/100 Developing
45 CN Energy Group Inc. CNEY 26/100 Developing
46 Loop Industries, Inc. LOOP 26/100 Developing
47 Trinseo PLC TSE 25/100 Weak
48 Bon Natural Life Limited BON 25/100 Weak

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How ASH scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 17 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 24 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 50 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 11 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 42 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 22 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding ASH's moat

What is Ashland Inc.'s moat score?

Ashland Inc. (ASH) scores 27 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #44 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals, the top 79%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (50/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (11/100).

How does Ashland Inc. compare with other Specialty Chemicals companies?

Ashland Inc. ranks #44 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score. The widest moat in Specialty Chemicals is WD-40 Company (WDFC) at 81/100. The companies ranked closest are Mativ Holdings, Inc. (MATV) at 28 just above it and CN Energy Group Inc. (CNEY) at 26 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Ashland Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Ashland Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and ASH scores: Pricing Power (17), Cost Advantage (24), Customer Stickiness (50), Capital Efficiency (11), Resilience (42), Scale & Market Position (22). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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