Praxair Starts Up Delaware Plant, Boosts Business in U.S.

PX FMC KRO

Industrial gas producer and supplier Praxair Inc. (PX - Free Report) remains keen on improving its offerings to better serve its large global client base. Currently, it is focused on the beverage industry. The company recently started operating a new carbon dioxide purification and liquefaction plant at the Delaware refinery.

Year to date, shares of Praxair yielded a return of 20.1%, outperforming the return of 16.1% by the Zacks categorized Chemicals diversified industry

As revealed, in Jul 2015, Praxair signed a long-term agreement with Delaware City Refining Company regarding the purchase of crude carbon dioxide from the latter. The new plant, with a production capacity of 450 tons per day, has been set up at the Delaware refinery to fulfill this contract. The plant will process crude carbon dioxide sourced from the refinery to yield purified liquid carbon dioxide, fit for use in the beverage industry.

Praxair will supply the plant’s output to its merchant customers in the northeastern U.S. Also, the company is building a dry ice facility, with a production capacity of 120 tons per day at the Delaware refinery. These moves will enable the company to strengthen its foothold in that part of the country and subsequently, improve top-line results. In third-quarter 2016, the company sourced approximately 52.7% of its revenues from North America.

We believe increasing application of industrial gases in manufacturing, transportation, healthcare, food and beverages, and metal fabrication industries comes as a boon for industrial gas producers. Exiting the third quarter, Praxair had a solid backlog of $1.4 billion. In addition, it boasts a diversified product portfolio and a large worldwide client base. Despite the long-term positives, the company’s exposure to certain near-term headwinds, including unfavorable foreign currency movements, higher production costs, stiff competition, and high debt levels restrict its growth momentum.

Currently, Praxair has a market capitalization of $35.1 billion and carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Over the last 60 days, Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has decreased 0.9% to $5.48 per share for 2016 and by 2.1% to $5.92 per share for 2017.

Some better-ranked chemical stocks include FMC Corporation (FMC - Free Report) , Innophos Holdings, Inc. and Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (KRO - Free Report) . All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

FMC Corporation posted better-than-expected results in all the four trailing quarters, with an average earnings surprise of 13.07%. Also, the earnings estimates for 2016 and 2017 have been revised upward over the past 60 days.

Innophos Holdings’ earnings for 2016 and 2017 have been revised upward in the last 60 days. Earnings surprise in the last quarter is a positive 13.64%.

Kronos Worldwide reported better-than-expected results in the last quarter, with a positive earnings surprise of 111.11%. In addition, earnings estimates for 2016 and 2017 improved over the past 60 days.

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