Specialty chemical company
Air Products and Chemicals Inc.
(
APD
) announced that it will participate in 2012 Mid-Atlantic Bio
conference in Bethesda, Maryland, scheduled to be held on September
27 and September 28. The company intends to display its medical and
industrial grade gases for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life
science applications at the exhibition.
Air Products will feature gases that are very effective in reducing
customer costs and enhancing product quality and safety. The
company will feature some of the gas supply products, such as
CryoEase Microbulk Solutions. These products are cost effective and
are useful for people, who use small volumes of gas.
The company's TELALERT Telemetry Technology, which can use solar
cellular or hard wired telemetry to continuously monitor the level
of liquid gas in storage in a customer's tank, while helping to
ensure on-time delivery, will also be featured. In addition, Air
Products will also feature PRISM Technology for onsite gas
production.
The representative of Air Products will also provide knowledge
on Liquid nitrogen for storage and cryopreservation; Liquid and
gaseous nitrogen for lyophilization; Nitrogen and argon inerting
atmospheres; Carbon dioxide for cell culture; Oxygen for
fermentation; and Nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium for analytical
instrumentation.
Air Products is the world's leading supplier of hydrogen for
processing cleaner burning transportation fuels and hydrogen
infrastructure and fueling technology. The company also holds a
leadership position in liquefied natural gas technology and
equipments.
In July 2012, the company released its results for the third
quarter of 2012 ended on June 30, 2012. The company reported
adjusted (excluding one-time items) earnings from continued
operations of $1.41 a share for the quarter, in line with the Zacks
Consensus Estimate.
Consolidated net income, surged 48% year over year to $484.5
million or $2.26 a share compared with $326.5 million or $1.50 a
year ago. The increase in profits was attributable to lower costs
and one-time gains, which more than offset the impact of lower
sales.
Revenues dipped 5% year over year to $2,340.1 million, missing
the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,455 million. Challenging
conditions in Europe and Asia as well as unfavorable currency
(stemming from a stronger dollar) weighed on the company's top line
in the quarter.
Air Products' healthy project backlog and solid bidding activity
strongly positions it to achieve its long-term growth target. Given
its leading position in the gases business, the company is well
positioned to capitalize on the cyclical recovery in its core
industrial end markets. Further, new business deals are expected to
boost profits in 2012. However, soaring energy and raw material
costs are likely to hamper margins.
Air Products, which competes with
Praxair Inc.
(
PX
), has a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold). Currently, we have a
long-term Neutral recommendation on its shares.
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