APD vs. LIN, ALB, ATI, CBT, CRS, DOW, EMN, FCX, SHW, and DD
Should you be buying Air Products and Chemicals stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Air Products and Chemicals include Linde (LIN), Albemarle (ALB), ATI (ATI), Cabot (CBT), Carpenter Technology (CRS), DOW (DOW), Eastman Chemical (EMN), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), and DuPont de Nemours (DD). These companies are all part of the "basic materials" sector.
Air Products and Chemicals vs. Its Competitors
Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) and Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment and institutional ownership.
In the previous week, Linde had 6 more articles in the media than Air Products and Chemicals. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Linde and 34 mentions for Air Products and Chemicals. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.49 beat Air Products and Chemicals' score of 1.36 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Linde currently has a consensus target price of $518.80, indicating a potential upside of 12.65%. Air Products and Chemicals has a consensus target price of $331.53, indicating a potential upside of 15.62%. Given Air Products and Chemicals' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Air Products and Chemicals is more favorable than Linde.
Linde has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.
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.
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 increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and 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.
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.
82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Linde beats Air Products and Chemicals on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding APD and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Air Products and Chemicals Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:APD) was last updated on 7/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
