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Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Air Products and Chemicals (APD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $296.18, moving +0.62% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.04%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.14%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses had gained 2.49% over the past month. This has outpaced the Basic Materials sector's gain of 0.57% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 5.1% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Air Products and Chemicals as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be May 9, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.64, up 10.92% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.02 billion, up 2.49% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.39 per share and revenue of $13.1 billion. These totals would mark changes of +9.41% and +3.16%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Air Products and Chemicals should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.01% higher. Air Products and Chemicals is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Air Products and Chemicals has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.85 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.31.

It is also worth noting that APD currently has a PEG ratio of 2.67. 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 industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.42 as of yesterday's close.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 182, which puts it in the bottom 28% 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.

To follow APD in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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