Analyzing Ashland (NYSE:ASH) and General Enterprise Ventures (OTCMKTS:GEVI)

Ashland (NYSE:ASH) and General Enterprise Ventures (OTCMKTS:GEVI) are both basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Ashland has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Enterprise Ventures has a beta of 5.16, suggesting that its share price is 416% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ashland and General Enterprise Ventures’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashland	7.95%	7.43%	3.85%
General Enterprise Ventures	-544.66%	-162.24%	-104.56%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Ashland and General Enterprise Ventures, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashland	0	2	5	0	2.71
General Enterprise Ventures	0	0	0	0	0.00

Ashland presently has a consensus price target of $102.00, suggesting a potential upside of 42.26%. Given Ashland’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ashland is more favorable than General Enterprise Ventures.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

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

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ashland and General Enterprise Ventures”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashland	$2.11 billion	1.60	$169.00 million	$3.35	21.40
General Enterprise Ventures	$520,000.00	49.19	-$10.10 million	($0.08)	-8.69

Ashland has higher revenue and earnings than General Enterprise Ventures. General Enterprise Ventures 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 General Enterprise Ventures 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 General Enterprise Ventures

General Enterprise Ventures, Inc., engages in installing large home and facility proactive wildfire prevention systems. It offers CitroTech products for the prevention and spread of wildfires, as well as lumber treatments for fire prevention. The company was formerly known as General Entertainment Ventures, Inc. and changed its name to General Enterprise Ventures, Inc. in October 2021. General Enterprise Ventures, Inc. is based in Cheyenne, Wyoming.