Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Flat As Market Sinks: What You Should Know

Air Products and Chemicals (APD) closed the most recent trading day at $241, making no change from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.13%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.14%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses had gained 1.77% over the past month. This has outpaced the Basic Materials sector's loss of 8.74% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.32% 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 $2.61 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 12.99%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $3.08 billion, up 18.23% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.27 per share and revenue of $12.07 billion. These totals would mark changes of +13.86% and +16.89%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Air Products and Chemicals. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

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.

In terms of valuation, Air Products and Chemicals is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.47. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.45.

It is also worth noting that APD currently has a PEG ratio of 1.8. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. APD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.98 as of yesterday's close.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, putting it in the top 34% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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