Woking, the United Kingdom-based Linde plc (LIN) is a leading industrial gas company with a market cap of $220.7 billion. It serves a range of industries, including healthcare, chemicals and energy, manufacturing, metals and mining, food and beverage, and electronics. It is scheduled to announce its fiscal Q2 earnings for 2025 before the market opens on Friday, Aug. 1.
Prior to this event, analysts project this industrial gas giant to report a profit of $4.03 per share, up 4.7% from $3.85 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company has a solid trajectory of consistently beating Wall Street’s bottom-line estimates in each of the last four quarters. Its earnings of $3.95 per share in the previous quarter marginally topped the consensus estimates.
For the full year, analysts expect LIN to report EPS of $16.43, up 5.9% from $15.51 in fiscal 2024. Its EPS is expected to further grow 7.9% year-over-year to $17.72 in fiscal 2026.
LIN has outpaced the Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLB) 2.1% return over the past 52 weeks, with its shares up 7.8%. However, it has lagged behind the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 12.1% uptick over the same time frame.
On May 1, shares of LIN plunged 1.1% after its Q1 earnings release. The company’s revenue slightly improved year-over-year to $8.1 billion as a rise in sales from the Americas region was primarily offset by lower revenue from the APAC and EMEA regions. Meanwhile, its adjusted EPS of $3.95 improved 5.3% from the year-ago quarter and marginally topped the consensus estimates. Its adjusted EBITDA also grew 3.1% from the same period last year, reaching $3.2 billion, with a 110 basis-point adjusted EBITDA margin expansion.
Wall Street analysts are highly optimistic about LIN’s stock, with a “Strong Buy” rating overall. Among 25 analysts covering the stock, 18 recommend “Strong Buy,” two indicate “Moderate Buy,” and five advise “Hold.” The mean price target for LIN is $509.83, which indicates an 8.7% potential upside from the current levels.
On the date of publication, Neharika Jain did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
