Forensic Analysis · Trading Companies & Distributors · as of Sep 24, 2026
Ashland Inc. (ASH)
A forensic read on Ashland Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
2.8
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
62.0
P / E (ttm)
-44.4%
ROE
$3.2B
Market cap
1.94%
Dividend yield
-13.7%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Ashland Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.8, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-15.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -15.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 3%. The capital base behind it cannot be compared across FY2023–FY2025: short-term debt is tagged in one of those two fiscal years and not the other, and an untagged line enters this calculation as zero, so any change in the base would be a change in what the filer tagged.
489% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $176M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 489% of free cash flow. That is $140M (389%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $85M and total debt rose $35M over FY2025 — $120M of the $140M, with the rest met from lines this read does not cover. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $14M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 528%.
159d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 143 to 159 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +4% vs -15% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
$706M
FY2025–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $706M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2025 ($706M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.82B
Revenue Growth YoY-13.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-8.8%
Net Margin-46.3%
Free Cash Flow$36.0M
Return on Equity-44.4%
Debt / Equity0.71x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Ashland Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?