Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ASH) delivered net profit of $9 million or 15 cents per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 (ended Sep 30, 2018), against a net loss of $58 million or 92 cents recorded in the prior-year quarter.
Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings came in at 97 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 98 cents.
Sales increased roughly 8.6% year over year to $956 million. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $929.2 million.
Fiscal 2018 highlights
Sales increased 14.8% year over year to $3,743 million in fiscal 2018. Net income was $114 million or $1.79 per share, against $1 million or a penny per share in fiscal 2017.
Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Quote
Segment Highlights
Specialty Ingredients: Sales in the Specialty Ingredients segment rose 6.4% year over year to $636 million on the back of improved product mix and strong customer demand.
Composites: Sales in the Composites segment jumped roughly 8% year over year to $237 million driven by a strong performance witnessed in North America during the quarter.
Intermediates & Solvents: Sales in the Intermediates & Solvents segment increased roughly 32% year over year to $83 million, driven by consistent price hikes, strong operational performance as well as healthy global demand for butanediol and derivatives.
Financials
Cash used by operating activities from continuing operations surged 50.7% year over year to $214 million in the reported quarter. The company’s long-term debt was roughly $2,275 million at the end of fiscal 2018 compared with $2,584 million a year ago.
Outlook
Ashland expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $4.20-$4.40 for fiscal 2019. The company expects to generate roughly $230 million in free cash flow in fiscal 2019.
Ashland expects adjusted EPS for first-quarter fiscal 2019 in the range of 55-65 cents compared with 42 cents in the year-ago quarter.
Price Performance
Shares of Ashland have moved up 12% in the past six months compared with the industry’s 0.4% rise.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Ashland currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A few better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) , CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CF) and Domtar Corporation (TO:UFS) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Methanex has expected long-term earnings growth rate of 15%. Its shares have gained 25.9% in the past year.
CF Industries has expected long-term earnings growth rate of 6%. Its shares have rallied 39.7% in a year.
Domtar has expected long-term earnings growth rate of 5%. Its shares have moved up 5% in the past year.
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Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (ASH): Free Stock Analysis Report
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