BioLargo (NASDAQ:BLGO) vs. Ashland (NYSE:ASH) Critical Review

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

Volatility and Risk

Ashland has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLargo has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.9% of Ashland shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of BioLargo shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Ashland shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of BioLargo shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Ashland and BioLargo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashland	0	2	5	0	2.71
BioLargo	0	0	0	0	0.00

Ashland currently has a consensus target price of $102.00, indicating a potential upside of 48.39%. Given Ashland’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Ashland is more favorable than BioLargo.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashland	7.95%	7.43%	3.85%
BioLargo	-11.45%	-39.90%	-22.06%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ashland and BioLargo”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashland	$2.11 billion	1.53	$169.00 million	$3.35	20.52
BioLargo	$12.23 million	7.36	-$3.50 million	($0.01)	-29.88

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

Summary

Ashland beats BioLargo on 12 of the 14 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 BioLargo

BioLargo, Inc. invents, develops, and commercializes various platform technologies. Its technologies solve challenging environmental problems comprising per – and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) water contamination, advanced water and wastewater treatment, industrial odor and volatile organic compounds control, air quality control, infection control, and myriad environmental remediation. The company provides full-service environmental engineering services. BioLargo, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Westminster, California.