Looking up the ticker with the regulator···
0s · usually 20–30 seconds for a cold read
Looking up the ticker with the regulator···
0s · usually 20–30 seconds for a cold read
Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice.
Weak signals across every dimension
Get notified when we ship meaningful updates. No spam, no daily noise.
0 of 5 met · composite below the peer average
Business quality, valuation against the sector, and position in the 52-week range — whether they line up or not.
Mixed signals
Profitability
2/4
Debt & liquidity
2/3
Efficiency
1/2
Debt/EBITDA of 0.0× sits well below the sector median 2.1× — the balance sheet carries less strain than most peers — yet that is the lone bright spot in an otherwise thin picture. ROIC runs at -5.3%, trailing the sector median 10.4% by -151%, and operating margin of -7.3% lags the median 20.4% by -136%, meaning the business is not converting its asset base or its revenue into returns at a rate the sector would call ordinary. The F-Score of 5/9 reflects that mix: profitability sub-scores are weak, and efficiency adds only one point. Valuation multiples — P/E at 31.9× against a sector median of 32.2×, EV/EBITDA at 97.8× versus 18.9× — sit above the median for a business whose quality metrics land in the bottom quartile. Consensus models a recovery; the beat rate over eight quarters has been weak, and the forward PEG reads as stretched.
| Ticker | Name | F-Score | ROE | Revenue YoY | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APD | Air Products & Chemicals Inc. | 5/9 | -2% | -1% |
The market prices in earnings growth; analyst sentiment is steady; has mostly beaten consensus.
Price against next year's expected earnings. The forward P/E already carries analyst optimism — read it alongside the “Versus consensus” line.
A forward P/E below the current one means the market expects earnings to grow; above it, to fall. The historical growth is realized figures from SEC filings, not a forecast.
The three-month change in the share of positive analyst ratings. This is sentiment, not an earnings-estimate revision, and not a call to act.
When APD reports on July 29, track operating margin against the current 20.4% figure and check whether ROIC is closing the gap to the sector median. A flat or widening spread would reinforce the weak-quality archetype flagged by the F-Score profitability sub-score of 2/4.
Focus on the capital allocation section: APD carries a Debt/EBITDA of 2.14x, one of its few above-median signals, so read how management plans to deploy that capacity. Cross-check the efficiency discussion against the F-Score efficiency sub-score of 1/2 to see whether the narrative matches the numbers.
Pick two or three companies from the Materials table in section 06 and line up a single metric — operating margin or ROIC — across your selection. With APD sitting 136% below the sector median on operating margin, even a rough side-by-side will show where it stands in the range without requiring a full screen.
Steps you can check yourself, based on the figures in this brief.
Piotroski F-Score: nine binary tests of financial strength from the annual report. A ✓ marks a test passed, a dot (·) a test failed.
Over 4 years: -72%-682%-122%-20%
Over 4 years: 1.750.000.000.00
Over 4 years: +23%-1%-4%-1%
The context on the right shows how each figure compares with the sector median. The trend below tracks the change over recent fiscal years.
Beat consensus in 7 of 8 recent quarters — the company clears estimates regularly (consensus is often set conservatively).
Last quarter's EPS against consensus, plus the estimated date of the next report.
| -7% |
| CTVA | Corteva | 7/9 | 5% | +3% | — |
| DOW | Dow Inc. | 3/9 | -15% | -7% | — |
| ECL | Ecolab | 5/9 | 22% | +2% | 17% |
| FCX | Freeport-McMoRan | 5/9 | 23% | +2% | 25% |
| LIN | Linde | 4/9 | 18% | +3% | 26% |
| MLM | Martin Marietta | 8/9 | 12% | +9% | 23% |
| NEM | Newmont | 8/9 | 22% | +21% | — |
| NUE | Nucor | 7/9 | 8% | +6% | — |
| PKG | Packaging Corp | 3/9 | 17% | +7% | 12% |
| PPG | PPG Industries | 6/9 | 21% | +0% | — |
| SHW | Sherwin-Williams | 6/9 | 59% | +2% | — |
| STLD | Steel Dynamics | 5/9 | 13% | +4% | 8% |
| VMC | Vulcan Materials | 9/9 | 13% | +7% | 20% |
A sample of 14 companies in the sector including the target, alphabetical, unranked. Data from the latest SEC annual reports.
Rule-based classification of fundamentals against the sector. Not a price forecast and not investment advice.
The last few quarters are recent context, not a fixed rate. Consensus for near quarters is set low, so companies clear it routinely; over long horizons the forecasts run the other way, too high.
A description of what the market and analysts expect. Not a price forecast and not investment advice. Analyst forecasts run systematically optimistic over long horizons — read them with that discount.