Linde PLCLINBUYJan 17, 2024Stock price when the opinion was issued
Largest in their field of industrial gases -- a boring, but growing, area. Hydrogen, for example, will be increasingly used in more intricate applications. Facilities are found beside every major manufacturing plant for petrochemicals, food/beverage, and healthcare. Once it's put in place on the ground, almost impossible to dislodge. Barriers to entry are monumental. Very little competition.
Excellent, strategic small M&A deals. Consistently delivers excellent earnings growth, huge buybacks of stock. Brilliantly managed. Yield is 1.32%.
Unsung hero when it comes to industrial processes. A proxy for industrial activity. Recent pressure on hydrogen. Tactical opportunity to buy a high-quality company for the long term. Oligopoly structure. Well managed. Best and biggest of the bunch.
Mid-high single-digit organic earnings growth, irrespective of economic environment. He's adding today. Can hold for the next 10 years. Yield is 1.45%.
Provides mission-critical, processed gases to a range of industries. Builds plants next door to client plants with 30-year, take-or-pay contracts. Reliability is key. World's #1, most efficient, highest margins. Long-term secular growth. Also getting involved in carbon capture. Yield is 1.25%.
(Analysts’ price target is $511.37)In last decade, has grown 19% annually on average, and that's without the dividend. Industrial gases from oxygen in hospitals to acetylene for welding. Biggest. Share buybacks and dividend increases. Strong returns for a long time. Tariff noise gave new money a chance to get in. Global scope and good execution. Yield is 1.32%.
(Analysts’ price target is $496.19)Classified in the materials sector, but she'd call it a soft cyclical. A lot of their services are recurring, which makes it more defensive. Very well managed. It can always grow earnings by high single digits, regardless of the economic scenario, as they'll adjust their prices to customers via pass-through contracts. Still, it needs economic growth.
LIN is one of the larger basic materials names in the US. It is a $197B company with a decent yield of 1.3%, a premium valuation of 27X forward earnings, but a strong and growing revenue base of $32.5B. It has decent debt levels, a growing margin, and strong cash flow generation, of which it uses most to repurchase shares. While its shares trade at an expensive valuation, its performance has been excellent, and its fundamentals continue to grow and expand. We would be comfortable owning LIN as part of a long-term position.
Materials which we think might be in great demand in the future include: lithium and cobalt (lithium-ion batteries for EV and renewable energy storage), graphene (exceptional strength and conductivity), and advanced alloys (aerospace and automotive industries).
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