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Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Air Products and Chemicals (APD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $240.48, moving -1.09% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.88%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.82%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.08%.

Coming into today, shares of the seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses had lost 0.16% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 16.65%, while the S&P 500 lost 8.06%.

Air Products and Chemicals will be looking to display strength as it nears 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.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Air Products and Chemicals. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Air Products and Chemicals is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Air Products and Chemicals has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.68 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.22.

We can also see that APD currently has a PEG ratio of 1.81. 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. The Chemical - Diversified was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.99 at yesterday's closing price.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 71, putting it in the top 29% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. 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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