Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Competitors

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

Is APD or LIN a better dividend stock?

Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $5.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 41.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 42.2% 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 has raised its dividend for 49 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 higher valuation and earnings, APD or LIN?

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
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.10B	6.02	$3.83B	$17.18	19.08
Linde	$32.85B	6.52	$6.20B	$13.17	34.18

Do analysts prefer APD or LIN?

Air Products and Chemicals currently has a consensus price target of $331.53, indicating a potential upside of 1.12%. Linde has a consensus price target of $490.75, indicating a potential upside of 9.02%. 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
Air Products and Chemicals	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Do institutionals & insiders believe in APD or LIN?

81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Linde shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, APD or LIN?

Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in APD or LIN?

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 63.73% of users gave Linde an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Air Products and Chemicals	Outperform Votes 643 64.56%	Underperform Votes 353 35.44%
Linde	Outperform Votes 355 63.73%	Underperform Votes 202 36.27%

Is APD or LIN 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
Air Products and Chemicals	31.64%	16.34%	7.56%
Linde	19.33%	18.16%	9.05%

Does the media refer more to APD or LIN?

In the previous week, Air Products and Chemicals had 13 more articles in the media than Linde. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Air Products and Chemicals and 28 mentions for Linde. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Air Products and Chemicals' score of 0.69 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Air Products and Chemicals	16 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Linde	24 Very Positive mention(s)	1 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 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.