Ashland Inc (ASH) is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) after the company missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate when the last reported. The company is in the specialty chemicals space and services many industries such as the automotive and construction sectors. This article will look at why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) as it is the Bear of the Day.

Description                       

Ashland, Inc. is an additives and specialty ingredients company, which engages in the provision of architectural coatings, construction, energy, food and beverage, nutraceuticals, personal care, and pharmaceutical products. It operates through the following segments: Life Sciences, Personal Care, Specialty Additives, and Intermediates. The Life Sciences segment is involved in pharmaceuticals, nutrition, nutraceuticals, agricultural chemicals, diagnostic films, and fine chemicals. The Personal Care segment consists of biofunctionals, microbial protectants, skin care, sun care, oral care, hair care, and household solutions. The Specialty Additives segment focuses on rheology and performance-enhancing additives serving the architectural coatings, construction, energy, automotive, and various industrial markets. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

In the case of Ashland Inc (ASH), I see three beats and one miss of the Zacks Consensus Estimate over the last year. The most recent quarter was a miss with the company posting $1.26 when the consensus was calling for $1.33.  This alone does not make the stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it doesn’t make it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) either.

The Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower.  For HII I see annual estimates moving lower of late.

The current fiscal year consensus number moved lower from $4.77 to $4.33 over the last 60 days. 

The next year has moved from $5.74 to $5.31 over the last 60 days.

Negative movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

It should be noted that a lot of stocks in the Zacks universe are seeing negative earnings estimate revisions.  That means that the stocks that are seeing small but negative earnings estimate revisions are falling to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

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