Ascent Industries: Impressive Early Innings Turnaround

Summary

• Ascent Industries, formerly Synalloy Corporation, is an under the radar Small-Cap industrial in the midst of a major turnaround.
• ACNT has two different business lines. First being a metal tubular business, think infrastructure piping and stainless steel piping, and secondly specialty chemical, think outsourced chemical manufacturing for blue chips.
• The company had been poorly run for years leading to below peer margins, inconsistent growth, low on-time delivery metrics, and unsafe working environments.
• Following a proxy fight in the summer of 2020, new management was brought in to turn the ship. An impressive turnaround has since unfolded led by new executive chair of the board Ben Rosenzweig and new CEO Chris Hutter.
• ACNT is in a very interesting spot as new management has proven their execution ability, but a 3Q hiccup in the metals business has sent the stock down. We believe this opens a great buying opportunity.

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Introduction

Ascent Industries (NASDAQ:ACNT) is an industrial manufacturing company that has undergone an extensive and complete rebuild. This change was initiated when the largest shareholder, the hedge fund Privet Funds, won control of the board via a proxy fight

Analyst’s Disclosure:I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of ACNT either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.