Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Soars 9.5%: Is Further Upside Left in the Stock?
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Air Products and Chemicals (APD) shares rallied 9.5% in the last trading session to close at $312.69. This move can be attributable to notable volume with a higher number of shares being traded than in a typical session. This compares to the stock's 6.3% gain over the past four weeks.
APD’s stock popped on reports that activist investor Mantle Ridge has amassed a large stake in the company. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mantle Ridge has acquired a more than $1 billion stake in the company and plans to push for strategic changes including succession planning for CEO Seifi Ghasemi and improvements to capital allocation and the company’s strategy.
This seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses is expected to post quarterly earnings of $3.46 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +9.8%. Revenues are expected to be $3.19 billion, down 0.1% from the year-ago quarter.
While earnings and revenue growth expectations are important in evaluating the potential strength in a stock, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.
For Air Products and Chemicals, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on APD going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Air Products and Chemicals belongs to the Zacks Chemical - Diversified industry. Another stock from the same industry, Dow Inc. (DOW), closed the last trading session 1.3% lower at $54.62. Over the past month, DOW has returned 9.2%.
Dow Inc.'s consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -11.9% over the past month to $0.53. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +10.4%. Dow Inc. currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).
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