Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Air Products and Chemicals (APD) closed at $311.41 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.57% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.75% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.05%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 7.84%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses had lost 0.17% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Basic Materials sector's loss of 0.18% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.4% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Air Products and Chemicals as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Air Products and Chemicals to post earnings of $2.72 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 7.94%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.29 billion, up 9.96% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.38 per share and revenue of $13.21 billion, which would represent changes of +9.32% and +4.06%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Air Products and Chemicals should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Air Products and Chemicals is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Air Products and Chemicals has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.21 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 9.8, which means Air Products and Chemicals is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that APD has a PEG ratio of 2.24. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. APD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.92 as of yesterday's close.
The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 175, putting it in the bottom 31% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
