Linde (LIN) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate NTR or LIN?

Nutrien currently has a consensus price target of $61.44, suggesting a potential upside of 4.04%. Linde has a consensus price target of $503.11, suggesting a potential upside of 8.34%. Given Linde's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Linde is more favorable than Nutrien.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nutrien	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of NTR or LIN?

63.1% of Nutrien shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Nutrien shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, NTR or LIN?

Nutrien has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NTR or LIN?

Nutrien received 88 more outperform votes than Linde when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.77% of users gave Linde an outperform vote while only 61.91% of users gave Nutrien an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Nutrien	Outperform Votes 447 61.91%	Underperform Votes 275 38.09%
Linde	Outperform Votes 359 63.77%	Underperform Votes 204 36.23%

Does the media refer more to NTR or LIN?

In the previous week, Linde had 11 more articles in the media than Nutrien. MarketBeat recorded 34 mentions for Linde and 23 mentions for Nutrien. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Nutrien's score of 1.33 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nutrien	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Linde	30 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is NTR or LIN more profitable?

Linde has a net margin of 19.89% compared to Nutrien's net margin of 2.62%. Linde's return on equity of 18.71% beat Nutrien's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nutrien	2.62%	6.81%	3.23%
Linde	19.89%	18.71%	9.25%

Is NTR or LIN a better dividend stock?

Nutrien pays an annual dividend of $2.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Nutrien pays out 203.7% 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 pays out 43.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nutrien has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Nutrien is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, NTR or LIN?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Nutrien. Linde is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nutrien, 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
Nutrien	$25.68B	1.12	$1.26B	$1.07	55.19
Linde	$33.02B	6.62	$6.57B	$13.77	33.73

Summary

Linde beats Nutrien on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.