Mativ (NYSE:MATV) versus Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Critical Survey

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Ashland and Mativ, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashland	2	3	5	0	2.30
Mativ	1	1	1	0	2.00

Ashland presently has a consensus target price of $65.13, indicating a potential upside of 2.83%. Mativ has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential downside of 21.47%. Given Ashland’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Ashland is more favorable than Mativ.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashland	-46.25%	7.07%	3.21%
Mativ	-22.03%	7.06%	1.73%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ashland and Mativ”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashland	$1.82 billion	1.59	-$845.00 million	($18.35)	-3.45
Mativ	$1.98 billion	0.35	-$48.70 million	($8.03)	-1.59

Mativ has higher revenue and earnings than Ashland. Ashland is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mativ, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Ashland pays an annual dividend of $1.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Mativ pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Ashland pays out -9.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mativ pays out -5.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Ashland has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Mativ has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Ashland has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mativ has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.0% of Ashland shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.0% of Mativ shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Ashland shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Mativ shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Mativ beats Ashland on 9 of the 17 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 Mativ

Mativ Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells specialty materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Technical Materials and Fiber-Based Solutions. The Advanced Technical Materials manufactures and sells various engineered polymer, resin and fiber-based substrates, nets, films, adhesive tapes, and other nonwovens for the filtration, protective solutions, release liners, and healthcare end-markets. This segment sells its products directly, as well as through sales agents and distributors. The Fiber-Based Solutions segment produces packaging and specialty paper products. This segment provides premium packaging products that are used for wine, spirits and beer labels, folding cartons, box wrap, bags, hang tags, and stored value cards servicing retail, cosmetics, spirits, and electronics end-use markets; and premium papers, which are used in commercial printing services, advertising collateral, stationery, corporate identity packages and brochures, direct mail, business cards, and other uses. It also offers branded paper-based products for the consumer channel, such as bright papers, cardstock, stationery paper, envelopes, journals, and planners. This segment distributes its products through authorized paper distributors, converters, retailers, and specialty business converters, as well as directly to end-users. The company was formerly known as Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc. and changed its name to Mativ Holdings, Inc. in July 2022. Mativ Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.