Ashland upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies

Jefferies analyst Laurence Alexander upgraded Ashland to Buy from Hold with a price target of $126, up from $100. The analyst says the end of destocking and modest sequential demand improvement in consumer markets over the next few quarters likely suffices for Ashland’s margins to normalize, allaying investor concerns over portfolio quality. By 2025, investor focus will shift from operating leverage on a potential restock cycle to Ashland’s longer-term structural improvement implied by its recent restructuring and the first significant innovation cycle in decades, the analyst tells investors in a research note.