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 better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment and valuation.

Is LIN or APD more profitable?

Linde has a net margin of 20.02% compared to Air Products and Chemicals' net margin of 12.76%. Linde's return on equity of 18.95% beat Air Products and Chemicals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Linde	20.02%	18.95%	9.26%
Air Products and Chemicals	12.76%	15.48%	7.06%

Do analysts prefer LIN or APD?

Linde presently has a consensus price target of $515.90, suggesting a potential upside of 8.42%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus price target of $330.94, suggesting a potential upside of 13.40%. Given Air Products and Chemicals' higher probable upside, analysts plainly 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)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Air Products and Chemicals	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

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

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 more volatility and risk, LIN or APD?

Linde has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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	$33.01B	6.79	$6.57B	$13.77	34.56
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.10B	5.37	$3.83B	$6.88	42.42

Does the media prefer LIN or APD?

In the previous week, Linde had 12 more articles in the media than Air Products and Chemicals. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Linde and 29 mentions for Air Products and Chemicals. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.56 beat Air Products and Chemicals' score of 1.37 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Linde	37 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Air Products and Chemicals	23 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Linde beats Air Products and Chemicals on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.