Forensic Analysis · Nondurable-Goods Wholesale · as of Nov 10, 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.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.4
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-35.4%
ROE
-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 (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). 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 C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.4, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-13.9%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -13.9% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 3.1%. After-tax operating profit was $155M in FY2023 and ($612M) in FY2025, with operating income at 7.9% of revenue in FY2023, -1.2% in FY2024 and -42.5% in FY2025. 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. FY2025's operating profit carried a $706M goodwill write-off that alone took about 12.6 points off that year's return, so about 12.6 of the 17.0-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2024's operating profit carried a $11M asset write-down that alone took about 0.2 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
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's own liquid holdings covered part of it: cash fell $85M over FY2025 — $85M of the $140M; total debt is not on file on the same basis at both year ends, so whether new borrowing also covered part of it cannot be read. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $56M from sales and maturities of investments against $54M of investments purchased; $16M from sales of property and equipment; net cash used in investing activities of $3M; net cash used in financing activities of $179M. 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
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-35.4%
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?