Air Products' LIN Freezers at IPPE

Industrial gas giant Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APD - Analyst Report) will showcase its Freshline liquid nitrogen (LIN) tunnel freezers at the forthcoming International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE) scheduled to be held in Atlanta, Ga. from January 29-31.

The tunnel freezers to be displayed by the Pennsylvania-based company include the Freshline DM tunnel freezer, which enables manufactures to process both individually quick frozen and flat or trayed products in a single machine. Another freezer to be featured is the Freshline QS tunnel freezer, a cost-effective option for food processors looking to upgrade to continuous freezing.

Food processors can visit the company’s booth at the IPPE to get an insight about the benefits of the Freshline tunnel freezers. Live demonstrations will allow them to see how much time and space they can save using these tunnel freezers.

Air Products offers industrial gases as well as a variety of polymer and performance chemicals and serves technology, energy, industrial and health care customers globally. The company competes with Praxair Inc. (PX - Analyst Report) among others.

Air Products has been offering solutions for freezing, chilling, coating, mixing, forming, packaging, and wastewater treatment to the food industry for more than four decades. It offers a comprehensive range of Freshline solutions, helping poultry and meat processors boost productivity, enhance product yield and minimize costs.

LIN can be an economical alternative to CO2 in many freezing and chilling applications. Air Products has a proven track record of converting several of its customers' processes from CO2 to LIN, offering them with a number of benefits which cannot be achieved with CO2. These include uniform temperature through the process, higher throughput and better product quality.

Air Products benefits from a long-term take-or-pay contract, a consolidated industry structure, diverse customer base and sustained pricing power. The company’s healthy project backlog strongly positions it to achieve its long-term growth target. However, sluggish economic conditions across the U.S. and Europe may continue to impact the demand for the company’s products.

Air Products currently retains a short-term Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We have a long-term Underperform recommendation on the stock.