Yahoo Finance Air Products (APD) Up 15% in 3 Months: What's Driving the Stock?
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.’s APD shares have popped 15% over the past three months. The company has also outperformed its industry’s rise of 10.2% over the same time frame. It has also topped the S&P 500’s roughly 6.6% rise over the same period.
Let’s take a look into the factors that are driving this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company.
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What’s Going in APD’s Favor?
Forecast-topping earnings performance in the fiscal second quarter and upbeat prospects have contributed to the rally in the company's shares. Air Products’ earnings from continuing operations for second-quarter fiscal 2024 rose to $2.57 per share from $1.97 in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line was driven by lower charges for business and asset actions, favorable pricing and lower other costs.
Adjusted earnings per share of $2.85 topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.72. APD gained from higher demand for hydrogen and contributions from new assets in the quarter. It continues to expect fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings per share of $12.20-$12.50, indicating 6-9% year-over-year growth.
Air Products is benefiting from its investments in high-return industrial gas projects, project wins and productivity measures. It remains focused on its gasification strategy and is executing its growth projects. These projects are expected to be accretive to earnings and cash flows.
APD is realizing the benefits of the completion of the second phase of the Jazan project in Saudi Arabia. The company has a total available capacity to deploy (over fiscal 2024-2033) $30.8 billion in high-return investments aimed at creating significant shareholder value.
Air Products is also driving productivity to improve its cost structure. It is seeing the positive impacts of its productivity actions. Benefits from additional productivity and cost improvement programs are likely to support its margins moving ahead. The company also remains focused on improving pricing amid an inflationary environment.
The company also remains committed to maximize returns to shareholders leveraging strong balance sheet and cash flows. Air Products’ board, in January 2024, increased its quarterly dividend to $1.77 per share. This marked the 42nd straight year of dividend increase. The company paid roughly $1.5 billion in dividends to shareholders in 2023. It expects to return roughly $1.6 billion to shareholders through dividends in 2024.
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Price and Consensus
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Quote
Stocks to Consider
Better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space include Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. AXTA, Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS and ATI Inc. ATI.
Carpenter Technology currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). CRS beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters while matching it once, with the average earnings surprise being 15.1%. The company’s shares have soared roughly 128% in the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Axalta Coating Systems, carrying a Zacks Rank #1, has a projected earnings growth rate of 26.8% for the current year. In the past 60 days, the consensus estimate for AXTA's current-year earnings has been revised upward by 5.9%. The company’s shares have gained roughly 15% in the past year.
ATI currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). ATI beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 8.3%. The company’s shares have rallied around 62% in the past year.
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