Ashland (NYSE: ASH) reported Q1 EPS of $1.16, $0.14 better than the analyst estimate of $1.02.

Outlook

With the planned final separation of Valvoline just a few months away, our entire organization is squarely focused on delivering against Ashland's 2017 plan and positioning the company for profitable growth as a pure-play specialty chemicals company," Wulfsohn said.

"In addition to completing the Valvoline separation, Ashland has two core priorities for the year ahead. The first is to deliver on our fiscal 2017 plan. This plan includes mid-single-digit EBITDA growth at ASI, stabilizing pricing within the I&S division at APM, and taking aggressive action to reduce year-over-year SG&A through previously announced cost-savings initiatives. Our second core priority is to 'pivot' to becoming the leading premier specialty chemicals company. We will do this by capitalizing on our highly differentiated portfolio of specialty ingredients, delivering top-quartile EBITDA margins and growth, and consistently driving strong cash conversion.

"Innovation will play a critical role. To accelerate progress in this important area, we recently launched a multifunctional engagement team. This team is tasked with increasing ASI's sales from new products by expanding the size of the innovation pipeline and accelerating the rate at which we commercialize these new technologies. At the same time, our commercial leadership team is working to ensure Ashland's sales teams capture the true value of our market-leading technology and drive share gains through a focused commercial excellence program. Additionally, we must continue to execute on our previously announced cost-savings initiatives. We look forward to discussing Ashland's strategy, metrics and financial outlook in greater detail during our planned investor conference in New York City this spring," Wulfsohn said.

Ashland plans to host an Investor Day at the JW Marriott Essex House at 160 Central Park South in New York City on Monday, May 1, 2017. More details will be available at a later date.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Ashland (ASH) click here.