Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Competitors

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, media sentiment, dividends and risk.

Which has better valuation and earnings, APD or LIN?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Air Products and Chemicals. Air Products and Chemicals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.03B	5.04	$3.83B	$17.22	15.84
Linde	$33.01B	6.42	$6.57B	$13.61	32.92

Do analysts rate APD or LIN?

Air Products and Chemicals currently has a consensus target price of $332.94, suggesting a potential upside of 22.04%. Linde has a consensus target price of $498.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.15%. Given Air Products and Chemicals' higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Air Products and Chemicals is more favorable than Linde.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air Products and Chemicals	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in APD or LIN?

Air Products and Chemicals received 295 more outperform votes than Linde when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.62% of users gave Air Products and Chemicals an outperform vote while only 63.77% of users gave Linde an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Air Products and Chemicals	Outperform Votes 654 64.62%	Underperform Votes 358 35.38%
Linde	Outperform Votes 359 63.77%	Underperform Votes 204 36.23%

Which has more volatility & risk, APD or LIN?

Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is APD or LIN a better dividend stock?

Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 41.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 44.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Air Products and Chemicals has increased its dividend for 50 consecutive years. Air Products and Chemicals is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media prefer APD or LIN?

In the previous week, Linde had 11 more articles in the media than Air Products and Chemicals. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for Linde and 35 mentions for Air Products and Chemicals. Air Products and Chemicals' average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Linde's score of 1.06 indicating that Air Products and Chemicals is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Air Products and Chemicals	18 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Linde	26 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is APD or LIN more profitable?

Air Products and Chemicals has a net margin of 31.88% compared to Linde's net margin of 19.89%. Linde's return on equity of 18.71% beat Air Products and Chemicals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air Products and Chemicals	31.88%	15.78%	7.29%
Linde	19.89%	18.71%	9.25%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of APD or LIN?

81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Linde shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Linde beats Air Products and Chemicals on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.