Ashland (ASH) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock?
ASH's fiscal second-quarter sales are adversely impacted by the portfolio optimization actions.
Ashland, Inc. (NYSE:ASH ) Q2 2025 Earnings Conference Call May 1, 2025 10:00 AM ET Company Participants William Whitaker - VP, Finance & Director, IR Guillermo Novo - Chairman & CEO John Willis - SVP, CFO & Principal Accounting Officer Alessandra Faccin - SVP and GM, Life Sciences and Intermediates James Minicucci - SVP & GM, Personal Care Dago Caceres - SVP & General Manager, Specialty Additives Conference Call Participants Kevin Estok - Jefferies Bhavesh Lodaya - BMO Capital Markets Jeff Zekauskas - JPMorgan David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank Josh Spector - UBS Michael Sison - Wells Fargo John Roberts - Mizuho Mike Harrison - Seaport Research Partners Operator Hello, and welcome to Ashland's Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to William Whitaker.
The headline numbers for Ashland (ASH) give insight into how the company performed in the quarter ended March 2025, but it may be worthwhile to compare some of its key metrics to Wall Street estimates and the year-ago actuals.
Ashland (ASH) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.99 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.10 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.27 per share a year ago.
Ashland (ASH) doesn't possess the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.
ASH is investing in modernizing equipment for microbial protection in personal care applications at its Technical Center in Sao Paulo.
ASH closes the sales of its Avoca business, the last entity remaining from the Pharmachem acquisition.
Ashland is generating attractive free cash flow and is well-positioned to achieve its 2027 target of $600 million EBITDA and 50% FCF conversion rate. Despite the stock selling off over the last 8 months, Ashland's strategic acquisitions and divestitures have strengthened its market position, with a focus on high-margin, patent-protected products. Ashland's strong balance sheet, low leverage, and fixed-rate debt provide stability and flexibility to navigate the current downcycle in the specialty chemicals sector.
TScan Therapeutics is developing engineered T cell receptor therapies, with TSC-101 targeting HA-2 for acute leukemia, showing promising phase 1 results but potential GvHD risks. TCRX's financials are strong, with $133.1 million in cash and equivalents, funding operations into Q4 2026, despite high clinical development costs. The market undervalues TCRX stock, trading at less than half its Q3 assets, presenting an opportunity amid current biotech pessimism.
Organic sales volume growth in ASH's Personal Care, Specialty Additives and Intermediates segments largely offset lower volumes in Life Sciences in Q1.
Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH ) Q1 2025 Earnings Conference Call January 29, 2025 9:00 AM ET Company Participants William Whitaker - VP, Finance and Director, IR Guillermo Novo - Chair and CEO Kevin Willis - CFO Alessandra Faccin - SVP and GM, Life Sciences and Intermediates Jim Minicucci - SVP and GM, Personal Care Dago Caceres - SVP and GM, Specialty Additives Conference Call Participants Michael Sison - Wells Fargo Chris Parkinson - Wolfe Research John Roberts - Mizuho David Begleiter - Deutsche Bank Jeff Zekauskas - JPMorgan Mike Harrison - Seaport Research Partners Bhavesh Lodaya - BMO Capital Markets Josh Spector - UBS Operator Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Ashland Inc. First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call.