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Jefferies Upgrades Ashland Inc. (ASH) to Buy on Lower Crude Prices

December 1, 2014 6:58 AM EST
Get Alerts ASH Hot Sheet
Price: $97.37 -0.25%

Rating Summary:
    12 Buy, 6 Hold, 1 Sell

Rating Trend: Up Up

Today's Overall Ratings:
    Up: 0 | Down: 0 | New: 0
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Jefferies upgraded Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) from Hold to Buy with a price target of $147.00 (from $123.00) saying the company will benefit from falling crude prices.

Analyst Laurence Alexander commented, "Base oil prices have dropped to ~$3.00/gal from $3.50-$3.75/gal in June. Ashland buys ~170m gpy of mostly Group II & III base oils, and we estimate a $0.10/gal price cut translates into an annualized tailwind of $0.15/share. Tailwinds to Valvoline in 1H15 should be followed by improved organic growth in ASI as consumer demand benefits from a tailwind to disposable income. We raise our 12-month price target $24 to $147, 16x 2016E EPS, and a 10% discount to the average of these three valuation models."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Ashland Inc. click here. For more ratings news on Ashland Inc. click here.

Shares of Ashland Inc. closed at $114.05 yesterday.



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