Financial Survey: Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) and DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD)

Air Products and Chemicals (NYSE:APD) and DuPont de Nemours (NYSE:DD) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Air Products and Chemicals has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DuPont de Nemours has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Air Products and Chemicals and DuPont de Nemours”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air Products and Chemicals	$12.04 billion	5.54	-$394.50 million	$9.45	31.69
DuPont de Nemours	$6.85 billion	2.65	-$779.00 million	($0.18)	-746.36

Air Products and Chemicals has higher revenue and earnings than DuPont de Nemours. DuPont de Nemours is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Air Products and Chemicals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.7% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of DuPont de Nemours shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Air Products and Chemicals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of DuPont de Nemours shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Air Products and Chemicals and DuPont de Nemours, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air Products and Chemicals	0	6	10	1	2.71
DuPont de Nemours	1	3	12	1	2.76

Air Products and Chemicals presently has a consensus price target of $325.82, indicating a potential upside of 8.80%. DuPont de Nemours has a consensus price target of $165.33, indicating a potential upside of 23.07%. Given DuPont de Nemours’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe DuPont de Nemours is more favorable than Air Products and Chemicals.

Dividends

Air Products and Chemicals pays an annual dividend of $7.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. DuPont de Nemours pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Air Products and Chemicals pays out 76.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. DuPont de Nemours pays out -1,333.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Products and Chemicals has increased its dividend for 43 consecutive years. Air Products and Chemicals is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Air Products and Chemicals and DuPont de Nemours’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air Products and Chemicals	16.91%	16.11%	6.92%
DuPont de Nemours	-0.30%	7.15%	4.57%

Summary

Air Products and Chemicals beats DuPont de Nemours on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air Products and Chemicals

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, equipment, and related services in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, India, and internationally. The company produces atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, and argon; process gases, such as hydrogen, helium, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and syngas; and specialty gases for customers in various industries, including refining, chemical, manufacturing, electronics, energy production, medical, food, and metals. It also designs and manufactures equipment for air separation, hydrocarbon recovery and purification, natural gas liquefaction, and liquid helium and liquid hydrogen transport and storage. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

About DuPont de Nemours

DuPont de Nemours, Inc. provides technology-based materials and solutions in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Electronics & Industrial, Water & Protection, and Corporate & Other segments. The Electronics & Industrial segment supplies materials and solutions for the fabrication of semiconductors and integrated circuits. This segment also provides semiconductor and advanced packaging materials; dielectric and metallization solutions for chip packaging; and silicones for light emitting diode packaging and semiconductor applications; permanent and process chemistries for the fabrication of printed circuit boards to include laminates and substrates, and electroless and electrolytic metallization solutions, and electromagnetic shielding and thermal management solutions, as well as patterning solutions, and materials and metallization processes for metal finishing, decorative, and industrial applications. In addition, it offers various materials to manufacture rigid and flexible displays for organic light emitting diode, and other display applications; provides high performance parts, and specialty silicone elastomers, and lubricants to automotive, aerospace, electronics, industrial, and healthcare markets; and photopolymer plates and platemaking systems used in flexographic printing, and digital inks for textile, commercial, and home-office printing applications. The Water & Protection segment provides engineered products and integrated systems for worker safety, water purification and separation, transportation, energy, medical packaging and building materials. The Corporate & Other segment offers auto adhesives and fluids; Multibase; and Tedlar products. The company was formerly known as DowDuPont Inc. and changed its name to DuPont de Nemours, Inc. in June 2019. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.