Ashland (ASH) Set To Increase Price Of Selective Products

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ASH) will increase prices of certain products in North America. The price hike will be effective from Apr 1, 2018 or as contracts permit.

The company will raise the price of AME, Derakane and Hetron resins, as well as various other epoxy vinyl ester and specialty resins in North America by 8 cents to 12 cents per lb depending on grade.

Ashland is taking appropriate pricing actions in response to raw material cost inflation. The latest move follows a series of price increases announced last month.

Shares of Ashland have moved up 12.8% over the past six months, significantly outperforming the industry’s 0.5% dip.

Ashland missed earnings and sales estimates in first-quarter fiscal 2018 (ended Dec 31, 2017). In the quarter, the company’s adjusted earnings came in at 46 cents per share, trailing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents.

Revenues increased roughly 19.6% year over year to $842 million in the quarter. The figure, however, lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $860 million.

For fiscal 2018, Ashland updated its adjusted earnings outlook to a range of $2.90-$3.10 per share owing to changes in the company’s effective tax rate. Also, the company raised effective tax rate expectation for the fiscal as a result of the recently enacted tax reform. This, in turn, is expected to reduce fiscal 2018 adjusted earnings by roughly 30 cents per share.

For second-quarter fiscal 2018, Ashland projects adjusted earnings in the range of 80-90 cents per share compared with 70 cents in the prior-year period. The company expects the benefit of pricing actions to be partly offset, in the fiscal second quarter, by the impact of the planned maintenance shutdown in the Marl, Germany, facility.

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Price and Consensus

Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Price and Consensus | Ashland Global Holdings Inc. Quote

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Ashland carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the chemical space are LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) , BASF SE (OTC:BASFY) and Kronos Worldwide Inc. (NYSE:KRO) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

LyondellBasell has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 9%. The company’s shares have moved up 19% in a year.

BASF has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 6.7%. Its shares have moved up 8.43% in a year.

Kronos has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 5%. Its shares have gained 45.8% over a year.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>