Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Competitors

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

Is LIN or APD 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
Linde	19.89%	18.71%	9.25%
Air Products and Chemicals	31.88%	15.78%	7.29%

Which has more volatility and risk, LIN or APD?

Linde has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in LIN or APD?

82.8% of Linde shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Linde shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LIN or APD?

Air Products and Chemicals received 297 more outperform votes than Linde when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.63% of users gave Air Products and Chemicals an outperform vote while only 63.77% of users gave Linde an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Linde	Outperform Votes 359 63.77%	Underperform Votes 204 36.23%
Air Products and Chemicals	Outperform Votes 656 64.63%	Underperform Votes 359 35.37%

Do analysts prefer LIN or APD?

Linde currently has a consensus target price of $503.11, indicating a potential upside of 7.38%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus target price of $331.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.27%. Given Air Products and Chemicals' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Air Products and Chemicals is more favorable than Linde.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
Air Products and Chemicals	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65

Is LIN or APD a better dividend stock?

Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Linde pays out 43.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 104.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Air Products and Chemicals has raised 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.

Which has better valuation & earnings, LIN or APD?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Air Products and Chemicals. Linde is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Air Products and Chemicals, 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
Linde	$33.02B	6.68	$6.57B	$13.77	34.03
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.02B	5.23	$3.83B	$6.88	41.03

Does the media refer more to LIN or APD?

In the previous week, Linde had 9 more articles in the media than Air Products and Chemicals. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for Linde and 26 mentions for Air Products and Chemicals. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.54 beat Air Products and Chemicals' score of 1.49 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Linde	32 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Air Products and Chemicals	22 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Linde beats Air Products and Chemicals on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.