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 valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and community ranking.

Do analysts rate LIN or APD?

Linde currently has a consensus target price of $490.75, suggesting a potential upside of 15.66%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus target price of $331.53, suggesting a potential upside of 12.39%. Given Linde's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Linde is more favorable than Air Products and Chemicals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53
Air Products and Chemicals	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Which has better valuation & earnings, LIN or APD?

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
Linde	$33.03B	6.12	$6.20B	$13.17	32.22
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.10B	5.42	$3.83B	$17.18	17.17

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LIN or APD?

Air Products and Chemicals received 288 more outperform votes than Linde when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.56% of users gave Air Products and Chemicals an outperform vote while only 63.62% of users gave Linde an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Linde	Outperform Votes 355 63.62%	Underperform Votes 203 36.38%
Air Products and Chemicals	Outperform Votes 643 64.56%	Underperform Votes 353 35.44%

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

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

Is LIN or APD a better dividend stock?

Linde pays an annual dividend of $5.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Linde pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 41.2% 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is LIN or APD more profitable?

Air Products and Chemicals has a net margin of 31.64% compared to Linde's net margin of 19.33%. Linde's return on equity of 18.16% beat Air Products and Chemicals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Linde	19.33%	18.16%	9.05%
Air Products and Chemicals	31.64%	16.34%	7.56%

Which has more risk and volatility, LIN or APD?

Linde has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer LIN or APD?

In the previous week, Air Products and Chemicals had 5 more articles in the media than Linde. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Air Products and Chemicals and 9 mentions for Linde. Air Products and Chemicals' average media sentiment score of 0.87 beat Linde's score of 0.81 indicating that Air Products and Chemicals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Linde	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Air Products and Chemicals	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Linde and Air Products and Chemicals tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.