In the latest trading session, Linde (LIN) closed at $325.03, marking a +0.1% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.3% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.77%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 5.51%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the gas supplier had lost 0.45% over the past month. This has lagged the Basic Materials sector's gain of 8.87% and the S&P 500's gain of 6.41% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Linde as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 7, 2023. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.91, up 5.05% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.09 billion, down 2.54% from the year-ago period.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Linde. 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.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.8% higher within the past month. Linde is holding a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Linde is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 25.04. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 12.14.
We can also see that LIN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.5. 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 2.09 as of yesterday's close.
The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 192, putting it in the bottom 24% 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
