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Air Products and Chemicals (APD) Stock Moves -1.75%: What You Should Know

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Air Products and Chemicals (APD - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $235.10, moving -1.75% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 3.25% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 2.42%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.41%.

Coming into today, shares of the seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses had gained 2.06% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 2.85%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.62%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Air Products and Chemicals as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.61, up 12.99% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $3.08 billion, up 18.23% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.27 per share and revenue of $12.07 billion, which would represent changes of +13.86% and +16.89%, respectively, from the prior 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.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Air Products and Chemicals is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, Air Products and Chemicals is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 23.3. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.7.

It is also worth noting that APD currently has a PEG ratio of 1.78. 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. APD's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.03 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 72, which puts it in the top 29% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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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