Air Products Stocks Hit 52-Week High: What's Driving the Rise?
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.’s APD shares hit a fresh 52-week high of $302.03 on Friday, before retracing to close the session at $300.36.
APD has rallied 23.4% over the past six months, outperforming its industry’s 3.5% rise. It has also topped the S&P 500’s roughly 26.1% rise over the same period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Let’s take a look into the factors that are driving APD stock.
High-return Projects & Productivity Actions Drive APD Stock
Air Products is gaining from its investments in high-return industrial gas projects and productivity measures. It remains focused on its gasification strategy and is executing its growth projects. These projects are expected to be accretive to earnings and cash flows.
APD is realizing the benefits of the completion of the second phase of the Jazan project in Saudi Arabia. The company has a total available capacity to deploy (over fiscal 2024-2033) $30.8 billion in high-return investments to create significant shareholder value.
Air Products is also driving productivity to improve its cost structure. It is seeing the positive impacts of its productivity actions. Benefits from additional productivity and cost improvement programs are likely to support its margins moving ahead. The company also remains focused on improving pricing amid an inflationary environment.
The company also remains committed to maximizing returns to shareholders leveraging strong balance sheet and cash flows. Air Products’ board, earlier this year, increased its quarterly dividend to $1.77 per share. This marked the 42nd straight year of dividend increase. APD paid roughly $1.5 billion in dividends to shareholders in 2023. It expects to return roughly $1.6 billion to shareholders through dividends in 2024.
APD's adjusted earnings per share of $3.20 for the fiscal third quarter topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.04. It continues to expect fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings per share of $12.20-$12.50, suggesting a 6-9% increase from the previous year.
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Stock Price and Consensus
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Quote
APD’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
APD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are IAMGOLD Corporation IAG, Eldorado Gold Corporation EGO and Hawkins, Inc. HWKN. While IAMGOLD sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Eldorado Gold and Hawkins carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IAMGOLD’s current-year earnings has increased by 45.4% in the past 60 days. IAG beat the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters with the average surprise being 200%. Its shares have shot up roughly 161% in the past year.
The consensus estimate for Eldorado Gold’s current year earnings is pegged at $1.40 per share, indicating a year-over-year rise of 145.6%. EGO beat the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 430.3%. The company's shares have rallied roughly 109% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Hawkins’ current fiscal-year earnings is pegged at $4.14, indicating a rise of 15.3% from year-ago levels. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HWKN’s current fiscal-year earnings has increased 12.8% in the past 60 days. The stock has rallied around 108% in the past year.
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